Sen. Suzette Maritnez Valladares, R-Acton, joined a group of Republican lawmakers in the Legislature opposed to Assembly Bill 84, a bill aimed at charter school accountability that recently drew protest to another Santa Clarita Valley lawmaker’s doorstep.
Both protests urged the rejection of AB 84, which would “defund non-classroom-based charter schools and impose unnecessary, burdensome mandates and regulations,” according to a news release Wednesday from Valladares.
The bill passed the Senate Education Committee on a 4-2 vote Wednesday, according to Ashley Giovannettone, Valladares’ communications director.
The bill would create a Charter Authorizing Support Team program, which would be overseen by a county’s local education office, in consultation with the state’s Education Department, as a way to codify charter school approvals into a more uniform process, according to a recent summary of the bill.
This would include detailing a program’s activities, the appointment of an advisory board with designated membership and responsibilities, and requirements that after July 1, 2026, charter schools comply with specified requirements relating to the expenditure of public funds for the payment of contractors, as well as annual audits.
Valladares described the move as slashing a funding mechanism for a system that serves “nearly 100,000 students across 56 of California’s 58 counties,” in her statement. The resources to create this new bureaucracy would be taken from charter schools’ classrooms, she said, which was a big part of the problem.
Her group also expressed support for Senate Bill 414, an alternative to the charter school oversight bill that doesn’t “impose burdensome restrictions,” according to Valladares.
Supporters of the School Accountability Act are calling it just that for the charter school system, noting problems that some local districts have had in the past with Albert Einstein Academy and several others also authorized by the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District.
The William S. Hart Union High School District denied Einstein Academy a charter school renewal in 2017, after the district reported the school had $4 million in deficits and negative working capital of more than $3 million, creating liabilities for the district.
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, who was met by dozens of pro-charter school parents outside her office June 6 who were upset by the bill, said the author has continued to work on the bill “in response to remaining concerns raised by myself and the community,” in a text message Wednesday.
“It’s a top priority to prevent fraudulent use of tax dollars,” Schiavo wrote. “Our community knows all too well what that fraud can look like after experiencing it with Einstein Academy just next door in the Acton-Agua Dulce (Unified School District).”
While the bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Schiavo also stated it “has a ways to go” before it heads back to the Assembly for a final vote, and she’s also looking forward to how it could mesh with SB 414.
“I look forward to seeing how both AB 84 and SB 414 come together to make policies that improve oversight and accountability for your tax dollars,” Schiavo said, “while ensuring the great charter schools in our district can continue to provide quality education that can adapt to the unique needs of our students.”
