We know that corporate charter school chains are having a serious negative impact on public education by draining resources, creaming the student crop, and counseling out the difficult and "less profitable" students.

All parents want the best schools possible for their kids, but charter school chains are damaging the ability of local districts to fairly distribute limited resources. Charter schools are funded with taxpayer money but governed by millionaires and billionaires outside the public school system without much oversight.

A large part of the problem is that local school districts have no true enforcement power regarding these schools. A poorly performing charter school can simply jump over a local school board and ask the County or State Board of Education to approve a charter application. All this is done with legal help provided by the California Charter School Association.

Problems also occur when school board candidates declare, "I am not for charter schools!" when, in fact, they are sponsored by the California Charter School Association and their supporters' dark money.

Gayle McLaughlin is a current Richmond City Council Member and former mayor.  She lives in the Richmond Annex.

We need to:

Keep the local school district in the hands of elected representatives who truly believe in the promise of free, quality public education for all. Every child deserves access to a public education that stirs their curiosity and intellect. We need corporate-free representatives with the backbone to stop the advancement of charter schools and review appropriately the performance of those already established.

Develop support for legislation like California Senate Bill 808 (Mendoza) requiring that all petitions to start or renew a charter school be approved exclusively by the local school board of the district in which the school will reside.

Let’s elect school board members that are corporate-free and committed to strengthening the public education system for every child, and who support legislation making local school boards the sole agent to grant and evaluate charter school applications. November 2018 is just around the corner!