A California judge agreed to certify a Class of charter schools in a class action lawsuit alleging the state failed to provide them adequate funding.
The class action, lodged by three San Diego County charter schools, claims that the state of California has not properly supported online, home school, and other nontraditional learning organizations. The schools sought to represent these non-classroom-based charter schools in California, and Superior Court Judge James Arguelles agreed, certifying a Class of more than 300 in a recent court order.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs — and now 308 California charter schools — say that the class action is the first of its kind, reports The San Diego-Tribune. The charter schools that now make up the Class are those that offer at least 20 percent of their learning off-campus either virtually, at-home, or through other means.
These non-classroom-based schools make up nearly 30 percent of all charter schools in California and enroll approximately 195,000 students, half of whom are from low-income households, said the attorneys.
The coronavirus pandemic resulted in an explosion of interest into non-classroom-based charter schools, with thousands of parents and guardians enrolling or attempting to enroll their children as traditional schools struggled with the transition to virtual classrooms, details the California charter school class action lawsuit.
Charter schools in California run independently from their school districts, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune, and their funding is based on enrollment. In 2020, California froze school funding, which kept non-classroom-based charter schools at the same funding levels as previous years; however, these schools faced a huge increase in enrollment and interest.
The school funding freeze was lifted, in part, reports The San Diego Union-Tribune, but non-classroom-based charter schools were left out. In September, the San Diego charter schools, along with several students, filed a class action lawsuit against the state claiming it unfairly denied students their right to an education.
“Every child in California deserves to have their public education funded,” the plaintiffs’ attorney told reporters. “It is unacceptable, particularly during a pandemic, that the state’s leaders would pick winners and losers among children — that some children’s educations matter and some are worth exactly zero.”
The class action lawsuit contends that non-classroom-based charter schools have been shorted public funding in a moment when they are being asked to educate more California students than ever. The schools say that they have been digging into their own reserves to educate students who transferred as public schools struggled to implement distance learning. Others say that they have thousands of students on their waitlists due to the lack of state funding.
The class action names the state, along with Governor Gavin Newsom, and other officials as defendants. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the California Department of Education said that it does not comment on pending litigation and the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Does your child go to a charter school in California? Do you think these schools should get the same funding as public and classroom-based charter schools? Tell us in the comment section below!
The plaintiffs are represented by Jerry Simmons and Paul C. Minney of Young, Minney & Corr, LLP.
The California Charter School Class Action Lawsuit is Reyes, et al. v. State of California, et al., Case No. Unknown in the Superior Court of the State of California County of Sacramento.
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