Charter lobby opposes law it first requested

The California Charter Schools Association asked a Southern California assemblywoman to sponsor a bill "that would address concerns about conflicts of interest on charter school boards, but still let those with a financial stake in a school serve on its board." But now the CCSA thinks the bill carried by Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, is too tough, so they're fighting it, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Riverside Press-Enterprise May 6, 2008
Charter school bill now opposed by sponsoring group
By SHIRIN PARSAVAND
The Press-Enterprise

A group representing the state's charter schools was thrown for a loop when the bill it asked a legislator to carry ended up being much more restrictive than expected.

The California Charter Schools Association asked Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, to carry a bill that would address concerns about conflicts of interest on charter school boards, but still let those with a financial stake in a school serve on its board.

Garcia heavily amended the bill last month to reflect the concerns of the Assembly Education Committee.

Now, the association is opposing the bill it had sponsored, and charter schools are writing letters to Garcia and other legislators against the bill.

The association's director of governmental affairs, Branche Jones, said Garcia was going against the group to push a bill through the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

"I think she caved, from our perspective," Jones said.

Garcia declined to comment on the legislation. An aide, Sharon Gonsalves, said Garcia is still open to changes.

The San Bernardino County superintendent of schools, Herbert Fischer, said in his annual address in January that new legislation was needed to address abuses such as those at the now-defunct California Charter Academy. The Victorville-based charter school network operated four schools and more than 50 satellite sites, including campuses in San Bernardino, Colton and Rialto, before it closed in 2004.

In September, a grand jury handed down a 117-count indictment against the school's founder, Charles Steven Cox, and Tad Theron Honeycutt, a Hesperia councilman who ran businesses connected to the schools.

They are accused of illegally transferring $5.5 million from the academy to private, for-profit management companies they created to sell supplies and services back to the school.

Honeycutt and Cox have pleaded not guilty to misappropriation of public funds, grand theft and failing to file tax returns.

Garcia's bill, AB 1772, originally would have required that no more than 49 percent of a charter school's board be made up of staff or those with a financial interest in the school.

The new version would prohibit charter school board members from holding any financial interest in the school. Charter schools would have to comply with the same conflict-of-interest laws affecting public schools.

Some charter schools are started by teachers, and those schools should be allowed to have staff on their boards, Jones said.

But the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools office and the California School Boards Association support holding charter school boards to the same standards as public school district boards.

"We think it's better for the school, better for the taxpayer," said Brian Rivas, senior legislative advocate for the California School Boards Association. He said employees who serve as board members could influence decisions on a school's contracts even if they recuse themselves from certain votes.

Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist for San Bernardino County's Superintendent of Schools office and for school districts around the state, said it's highly unusual for a sponsor to ask a legislator to carry a bill, then withdraw its support.

But, he said, a bill's sponsor must work closely with the legislator who carries a bill to address any concerns.

"In the Legislature, the sponsor of a bill doesn't own the process," Gordon said. "The legislator that authors the bill controls the bill."