A Break for Charter Schools

Independent charter schools function free of bureaucratic school district rules and stifling union contracts, a freedom that allows principals and teachers greater flexibility, creativity and autonomy. Some of the best Los Angeles teachers have chosen to take part in these exciting experiments, in part because they were granted leaves of absence from the Los Angeles Unified School District that preserved their seniority, tenure, guaranteed health plans and other benefits.

The first of the five-year leaves expire next spring, and charter schools risk losing some of their most experienced teachers unless a temporary extension of the benefits and a more permanent transition are agreed on. All sides should get to work right away on a solution.

Supt. Ruben Zacarias and the union leadership are willing to entertain an extension of the time a teacher can work in a non-district school without severing all ties to the L.A. school district. School board President Julie Korenstein has indicated she too is open to renegotiation.

The five-year leaves parallel the five-year term of the charter schools, the first of which came into being in 1993. A yearlong extension would be a good start, giving teachers a reprieve while charter school administrators begin constructing or enhancing their own long-term benefit programs, independent of the district’s. The new benefit packages may not equal the generous packages negotiated by the powerful teachers union, though that’s a trade-off some teachers may be willing to make for the opportunities offered by charter schools or for higher salaries.

The charter schools are also hiring their own staffs, and eventually the LAUSD tenure and benefit issues will become moot points. Until that time, the veterans who are the core of the charter experiment should not have to give up all they’ve accumulated with the LAUSD. First a one-year extension, then a continuing transition, should be negotiated. That would be fair to the teachers and give the charter schools the best chance to succeed.