Why are charter schools suing the State of California?

Charter schools have begun taking legal action against the state of California. This all began as a result of the government’s decision to defund public school students. Katy Grimes reports for California Globe.

A lawsuit was filed Monday in State Superior Court against the State of California; Gov. Gavin Newsom; State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond; State Controller Betty Yee; and the California Department of Public Education; by a coalition of students, parents, and school leaders to stop the defunding of public school students in California. The defunding is in California budget Senate Bill 98, which deals with spending on K-12 education, and denies funding for students newly enrolling in a public school.

Backed by the California Teachers Association labor union (CTA), the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, passed and signed into law bills which put a moratorium on charter school expansion to stop the creation of charter schools needed to meet the demand of parents and their children. AB 1506 states that the maximum total number of charter schools authorized to operate in California will be the total number of charter schools operating as of January 1, 2020.

Through SB 98, if a public school has enrolled more students for the upcoming 2020-21 school year than they had enrolled the previous year, then according to the defunding provision of the budget bill, the state will not provide any additional funding for those newly enrolling students.

Attorney Jeremy Simmons, representing the public schools coalition, explained that California’s Constitution guarantees a free and equitable public education for all students. But SB 98 is actually a defunding of schools and students, and “violates this constitutional promise because it eliminates the traditional and historical method of providing state funding to schools based on per pupil attendance of the actual students enrolled in the school, and instead reduces school funding to prior year amounts regardless of how many children are enrolled. This provision defunds growth at any public school. This defunding of students breaks the long standing link between funding following the child and fails to provide schools the necessary resources to educate each child.

Joseph Benson, Executive Director of John Adams Academy, noted that it is Northern California’s only tuition free, TK-12 Classical Leadership Education public charter school network. with three academies in Roseville, El Dorado Hills and Lincoln. Benson said they are expecting 763 new students to their newest academy in the fall, and had planned that the students would have state funding. Benson said they are defunded $6.3 million, with disparate impacts on the students. He said the newest academy has been six years in development – obtaining the charter, acquiring property, locating a developer, permits, etc… to open in August. They’ve purchased computers, books and hired staff to accommodate the nearly 800 new students. “We have a moral obligation to serve students. The state withholding funding does a gross injustice to students and families,” Benson said.