Defend City of Richmond Rezoning Changes to Protect Public Education

12/19 Defend Rezoning Changes To Protect Public Education

Speak Out At Richmond City Council Chambers on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 6:30 p.m.
440 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804

From: Carlos Taboada
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2017
To: WCCUSD Teachers and Citizens for Public Education
Subject: Moratorium on Schools

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

On Tuesday November 21, 2017 the Richmond City Council voted for a resolution (sponsored by former UTR activist/member Eduardo Martinez) to “CONSIDER directing staff to prepare a moratorium for Council consideration restricting the approval of schools in certain zones pending completion of an anticipated zoning amendment.” This moratorium is meant to address the following concerns relative to schools in commercial zones:

• Children’s safety (Charters are exempted from the Field Act: Ca. Ed. Code/ sect-17280-5)
• Erosion of the tax base
• Downgrading of credit ratings due to the tax base erosion
• Economic savings to schools by protecting them from investing in renovating buildings that may not be permitted for such user pending the zoning amendment

The City of Richmond has already experienced a loss in potential taxes due to a number of schools that have been established in prime commercial areas. It is the responsibility of the City to take steps that are beneficial to the community, the economic health of the City and the students of the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

The California Charter School Association considers the proposed moratorium a direct challenge to what they see as the “right” of Charter Management Organizations to open schools wherever it is convenient and profitable for them.

Speaking for those who support public education and want to stop the encroachment of the charter- corporate- education project on our public school system, I am asking that you come to the Richmond City Council Chambers on Tuesday, December 19, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. to show appreciation and support for the political courage of the Council. You should also call or e-mail the council members and express your support for the moratorium.

Tom Butt/Mayor (510-620-6503) tom.butt [at] intres.com
Jovanka Beckles/ Vice Mayor (510-620-6581) jovanka_beckles [at] ci.richmond.ca.us
Ben Choi/Councilmember (510-620-6824) ben_choi [at] ci.richmond.ca.us
Eduardo Martinez/Councilmember (510-620-6593) eduardo_martinez [at] ci.richmond.ca.us
Ada Recinos/Councilmember (510-620-5431) ada_recinos [at] ci.richmond.ca.us
Jael Myrick/Councilmember (510-620-6824) jael_myrick [at] ci.richmond.ca.us
Melvin Willis/Councilmember (510-412-2050) melvin_willis [at] ci.richmond.ca.us

Thank you,
Carlos Taboada/Retired Teacher

Protecting our public schools against privatization and saving them for future generation of American children is the civil rights issue of our time. D. Ravitch. The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.

Defend Public Education Now
Say NO to Rocketship

REPEAL ALL CHARTER SCHOOL LAWS AND STOP CO-LOCATIONS

1. ASPIRE, Benito Juarez, Caliber, John Henry, Leadership, Making Waves, Manzanita, Richmond Charter Academy, Richmond College Preparation, Summit K2, Summit Tamalpais. In 2016-2017, our District subsidized these charters with $94 million, taken from the General Fund, Local Control Funding formula, and Title II. In 2017-2018 when two more charters, VOICES and INVICTUS will open, the financial hemorrhage will add to almost half of WCCUSD’s yearly budget. One more charter may push us to the brink of bankruptcy.

2. DO NOT BE MISLED. Even if we succeed in convincing WCCUSD’s School Board to vote against Rocketship’s petition, their Charter Management Organization will appeal to the County Board of Education for approval; and they are most likely to grant it. This is what happened with the Invictus charter petition. The WCCUSD Governing Board turned it down in August 2017; only to see it approved unanimously one month later by the County Board of Education.

3. “THE PETITIONER (Voices College-Bound Language Academies, Inc.) IS DEMONSTRABLY UNLIKELY TO SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT THE PROGRAM SET FORTH IN THE PETITION.” With these words, the WCCUSD Staff’s Report evaluated Voices’ petition. Yet, on April 12, 2017, WCCUSD’s Governing Board approved it on the spurious ground that Voices could be made more accountable to the community if WCCUSD and not the County approved it. Can our Governing Board be trusted?

4. GIVE IT UP! Stop the chimeric pursuit of legislation aimed at making charter schools “accountable to the community”. Every such piece of legislation has been either vetoed or stalled by pro-charter bureaucrats. That is what happened to AB-1360 (prohibits discriminatory admissions and ensures due process in pupil discipline), AB-1478 (states that charters and Charter Management Organizations are subject to the Brown Act and must hold open meetings and the CA Attorney General Becerra should enforce it), and SB-808 (requires that all charter school petitions be approved by the school board of the district in which they reside).

5. We call for the WCCSD Board to reject all new charters and to join with other school districts and teacher/staff unions to sue to remove prop 39 and the 1992 charter school laws. They can take the first step by endorsing the NAACP resolution for a national moratorium. We also call for the rejection of the planned co-locations that Superintendent Duffy and the privatizers are planning for more schools in Pinole and other communities. These co-locations are a way of pitting student against student and disrupting and destroying public schools. Defend Public Education Now is a statewide organization that unites unionists, unions, parents, staff and public education advocates. We oppose all funding going to privately run schools and are for folding the charters into public schools where they are under a public authority. Organizing charters which the leadership of the CTA/UTR is doing is setting up a two tier public school system that will end up de-professionalizing public education. The Time For Action is Now! Come To Our Next Meeting on Charters, co-locations, bankruptcy and privatization and how to fight it. We also support the recall of charter funded WCCSD school board members. They have a financial conflict of interest and some have lied about who funds them.

Contact Defend Public Education NOW!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/defendpublicednow/
https://www.facebook.com/DefendPublicEducationNOW/
https://www.defendpubliceducationnow.org

JOIN the growing resistance movement to public school privatization. If the administration of the WCCUSD does not have the authority or the political will to force charters to follow the legislative intent of the 1992 California Charter School Act, and “Create new professional opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at each school site” then it is up to us, teachers, students, parents, community members and progressive District staff to create the basis of a democratic, radical, and progressive transformation of OUR public school system. LET TEACHERS TEACH!