The Los Angeles school board last week approved the settlement of a lawsuit over charter school facilities that is expected to smooth the way for the schools to find space in the district.
The proposed settlement would end two lawsuits brought by the Sacramento-based California Charter Schools Association and two charter-management organizations operating in the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are Green Dot Public Schools and Partnerships to Uplift Communities.
In their lawsuits, filed last May, the groups argued that Proposition 39, a state ballot measure passed by voters in 2000, grants charters’ access to facilities in California. The law mandates that districts share public school facilities fairly among all public school students, including those attending charter schools.
The charter operators said the 708,000-student district had either denied or made unreasonable offers to 57 of the 59 requests for facilities made by charter schools over a two-year period. The proposed settlement, which must be approved by the parents who were parties to the suits and by the boards of the charter organizations involved, says that every charter school that applies to the district for facilities would receive an offer of space at a district site.
See other stories on education issues in California. See data on California’s public school system.
