L.A. School Moves Toward Autonomy From District

In a move with potentially far-reaching consequences, teachers at Vaughn Street School in Pacoima agreed Friday to launch a process that could free the campus from Los Angeles school district control.

At an afternoon meeting that capped days of spirited discussion, a majority of Vaughn Street faculty members voted to begin crafting a proposal to become a “charter” school, a new idea in California education approved by state lawmakers in September and scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

Under the legislation, up to 100 schools will be freed from control of local districts, be exempted from state educational regulations and be left to devise their own forms of governance. The goal of the charter school law, sponsored by state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), is to enable campuses to improve student achievement through innovations that might otherwise be hampered or prohibited by the California Education Code.

Several campuses in the Los Angeles Unified School District are exploring the option, including a group of seven Westside campuses that may try to apply for charter status as a consortium. But Vaughn Street is the first to formally announce its intention to begin the process, which could lead to almost total autonomy within the nation’s second-largest school system.

A day after a sizable majority of Los Angeles teachers voted to strike in February, the Vaughn Street faculty gave the go-ahead to a corps of teachers to develop a detailed petition outlining the educational goals the campus would pursue, the curriculum it would incorporate and the structure of government it would adopt if it became a largely self-regulating school.

“This is something I’ve wanted for a long time,” said fifth-grade teacher Stephanie Moore. “I’m very hopeful . . . we can implement some of our dreams if we do it right.”

Among the teachers’ objectives are reducing class sizes and choosing curricula and materials.

The petition is scheduled for completion by the end of January, when it will be subject to another vote by the faculty. Under the new law, a simple majority of instructors must approve a charter school petition before submitting it to the local school board for ratification.

Los Angeles school district officials are scheduled to discuss the charter school issue Thursday. Joseph Rao of the district’s Office of Instruction said he and other staff members will make recommendations to Supt. Sid Thompson on how to handle the petitions.

Rao said the district is assessing “what are some of the pluses, what are some of the negatives” of the charter school legislation. Officials are also studying thorny questions of liability and the impact that charter schools would have on collective bargaining and other district policies and procedures.

“We’re doing the ‘what if’s’ right now so the superintendent will have a fairly good idea of some of the complications,” he said. “It has posed a lot of questions for districts throughout the state. The bill was so general that lawyers are having a field day.”

Board of Education President Leticia Quezada, whose constituency includes Vaughn Street, said until more information becomes available the district is neither encouraging nor discouraging schools from exploring the idea.

The law leaves open a number of questions that any school applying for charter status would have to answer or negotiate with the district. For example, would the school rent the physical plant from the district? Who would provide security, maintenance and other services?

Petitioning campuses would also have to take into account the fate of teachers who choose not to stay with the school, as well as how to administer health insurance, pay and retirement benefits for teachers who remain. Additionally, the charter schools would have to decide how or if teachers could unionize.

Denise Rockwell Woods, a vice president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, said the union has taken no position on the charter school law but advises schools to “proceed with caution.”

“We just want them to know what they’re getting into when they’re doing it,” she said. “It looks good on paper, but how does it impact you--forever?”

Sue Burr, a consultant with the state Senate Education Committee who helped draft the legislation, said the scope of the law was left broad to allow local educators flexibility in designing programs to meet particular needs.

“There was no way for us to anticipate every single aspect of local focus,” she said. “If you look at every other law that we do, we are usually very prescriptive. . . . We’re going to look at this as an open-ended process, and that’s just different from the way schools are used to operating.”

However, the novelty is unsettling to some in Los Angeles, even though the trend has been to devolve more power to teachers, administrators and parents.

“There are just too many unknowns,” said Neal Neyer, a resource specialist at Vaughn Street who was one of several teachers voting against the move to draft a petition. “There’s so much confusion and chaos in the district right now. . . . To attempt to do something is premature.”

“It frightens a lot of teachers, frankly,” said Bill Winkes, a history teacher at Palisades High School, one of the Westside schools considering a joint charter application. “We end up with a mixed viewpoint on it.”

Officials at Palisades and its feeder schools are investigating the possibility of applying for charter school status as a single body. A group of campuses in East Los Angeles is also considering a joint application, although they have run up against the same legal questions.

The turmoil in the district has made the prospect of autonomy more attractive.

“As the situation with (the district) continues to worsen, it’s making the charter school initiative an alternative that is there,” said Pam Bruns, a Westside parent.

Under the legislation, the first 100 schools whose petitions are received by the state Board of Education will be granted charter status, and only 10 schools in any district may become charter schools. Bruns said the Palisades group fears being shut out if it does not submit a proposal in time or if the district drags its feet.

The school board has 60 days to ratify a school’s petition. If the school board denies the request, the campus has recourse to county education authorities.