L.A. Unified rejects charter expansion

In case anyone is suffering from any delusions about where teachers unions' concerns lie, this outrage from LA should put them to rest.  Steve Barr tried to work with the system to work out a deal and his Green Dot charter schools are even UNIONIZED (albeit in a special deal with the CA Teacher's Assoc, not the United Teachers LA), but it didn't matter... 

Barr is the largest charter operator in Los Angeles and has won strong support from such wealthy philanthropists as Eli Broad. He has clashed in the past with district officials over his aggressive push to expand.

 

The rejection also infuriated board member Mike Lansing, who represents Watts voters and has pushed unsuccessfully for dramatic reforms there. Lansing accused his colleagues of bending to the wishes of the influential United Teachers Los Angeles, which largely opposes the charter movement.

 

"It's really disappointing that we keep talking about wanting to do what's best for children first, when without a doubt that vote was about a teachers union and three board members not having the backbone to stand up and do the right thing for kids over their ties to the union," Lansing said after the vote.

 

In their recent reelection bids, Poindexter LaMotte and Lauritzen relied almost entirely on a total of about $1 million in union contributions. Korenstein has enjoyed similar support in the past.

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L.A. Unified rejects charter expansion
Despite lawyer's warning, board turns down Green Dot's plans for eight schools.
By Joel Rubin and Adrian G. Uribarri, Times Staff Writers
March 30, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charter30mar30,1,266784.story

A split Los Angeles Board of Education on Thursday rejected the expansion plans of one of the city's leading charter school operators — a move that almost certainly violates state law and firmly sets back future collaboration between the charter group and the school district.

 

The unexpected 3-3 vote by the Los Angeles Unified School District board defeated Green Dot Public Schools' application for eight new charters. The group had planned to use several of the charter licenses to open new schools this fall in the Watts neighborhood around Locke High School — one of the city's worst. The board's seventh member, David Tokofsky, recused himself because he works for Green Dot.

 

Board members and teachers union allies Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, Jon Lauritzen and Julie Korenstein voted against the charters, saying that despite the promising results Green Dot has produced at its other charters, they remain skeptical of the group's reform model.