Our public schools are in crisis. Never has this been more apparent than now with over 30,000 educators striking in the streets of Los Angeles. The destitute economic condition of our public schools is largely the result of the unchecked growth of charter schools that continues every year. California is now the state with the most charter schools and charter school students in the nation. Approximately 10 percent of California students attend charter schools and the per pupil funding for each of these 600,000 students is being diverted away from neighborhood public schools, leaving them with fewer and fewer resources. It has been estimated that Los Angeles Unified School District loses 600 million dollars annually as a result of the loss of enrollment to charter schools. This year alone 70 new charter schools opened in California, enrolling an additional 30,000 students. Over the last ten years charter school enrollment has grown by 150 percent. Due to a declining birth rate, our state is projecting a decline in enrollment of 258,000 students over the next ten years, yet the California Charter Schools Association has set a goal of enrolling one million students in charter schools by 2022. Opening unneeded schools is fiscally irresponsible and will only exacerbate the financial problems of public school districts.

Therefore, we are asking you to take immediate action by placing a moratorium on the opening of new charter schools in the state of California. Our neighborhood schools must once again become robust and vibrant centers in the community, providing students with a well-rounded education complete with all of the necessary support services. This will never become a reality if they continue to be undermined by the opening of unneeded schools in their neighborhoods. There are many issues with the current state of the charter school industry in California – lack of accountability and transparency, fraud and abuse, discriminatory admission practices, and segregation, to name a few. It makes no sense to continue to expand these schools without addressing and correcting these issues. Please call for an immediate moratorium on new charter schools and focus our state resources on rebuilding our public schools, so that they can once again become the exemplar for the nation.