KCRW Reports
What are charter schools?
LAUSD teachers were picket lines for a second day Tuesday. And this morning the teachers union organized a march to the California Charter Schools Association office downtown, to draw attention to their criticisms of local charter schools. But what are charter schools anyway?
By Saul Gonzalez • • 5m ListenLAUSD teachers were on picket lines for a second day, Tuesday. And this morning the teachers union organized a march to the California Charter Schools Association office downtown to draw attention to their criticisms of local charter schools. But what are charter schools anyway?
They’re free and public, and while traditional schools accept kids who live in their local neighborhood, charters are open to students from anywhere in the district. A handful of them opened in the early 1990s, but by now 20 percent o of LAUSD schools are charters. And most of their teachers are not in the union and not on strike right now. That’s one reason charter schools have become a political flashpoint in local eduction, with millions of dollars spent for or against school board candidates.
KCRW’s Saul Gonzalez sat down with USC education professor Julie Marsh to ask her about charter school tension in LAUSD.
What do you want to know about the strike?