#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCANDAL

How Have Charter Schools Affected Students with Special Education Needs

What has been the effect on students like Chanda Smith as the charter industry tightens its grip on the LAUSD?

On February 20, 2018, the LAUSD School Board put the proposed Holding GHCHS Accountable to Their Charter on the agenda of their Committee of the Whole meeting. The following is the written statement that I provided to the Board:

Honorable LAUSD Board Members:

This is Chanda Smith. She was an LAUSD student with special education needs who fell through the cracks in the system. In 1993, lawyers from the ACLU filed a class-action suit under her name. The result of that suit is a consent decree that the District is still struggling to comply with 22 years after it was signed.

Around the same time that Ms. Smith’s lawyers were filing their paperwork, California began its experiment with charter schools. Since charters claimed that this would give parents more choice, the LAUSD embraced these new types of schools and became the largest charter authorizer in the country. Did those in charge consider…