Charter failure prompts scrutiny
Dept. Supt. Zeiger sees tens of millions of dollars lost
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The bankruptcy of a one-year-old charter school in West Sacramento has underscored difficulties with state and federal funding of startup schools and raised questions about theState Board of Education’s long-term capacity to oversee dozens of charter schools that it has approved.
There are probably practical fixes to the funding issue that could reduce the odds that millions of dollars would be squandered on bad-bet charter schools. The issue of the State Board’s oversight of charters raises a deeper question: Who should approve and monitor charters – local districts, the State Board on appeal, or perhaps independent agencies and universities, as in other states, with the expertise and a disinterest in the charters they would
