Education Law Topics: Charter Schools

Court Confirms Right of Union to Pursue Arbitration of Statutory Claim; Charter School Controversy Should Have Been Arbitrated Under Collective Bargaining Agreement

In United Teachers Los Angeles v. Los Angeles Unified School District, the Second District Court of Appeal confirmed two important principles.

Charter Schools Do Not Get Free Ride – Court Holds That School Districts Can Pass Along Proportionate Operational and Maintenance Expenses Relating to Property Used By Charter School

The charter school movement has swept across California, as it has in other states.  Proposition 39, approved by the voters in 2000, added section 47614 to the state Education Code, which provides that “[e]ach school district shall make available, to each charter school operating in the school district, facilities sufficient for the charter school to accommodate all of the charter schools in-district students in conditions reasonably equivalent to those in which the students would be accommodated if they were attending other public schools of the district.” 

Charter Schools Are Not State Actors Under Section 1983 According to Ninth Circuit Ruling

With the proliferation of charter schools in California and other states, an issue was sure to arise over whether the school stands in the shoes of the state for all purposes when it offers educational services to the public. In Caviness v. Horizon Community Learning Center, Inc.

Union's Role in Charter School Controversy

In United Teachers Los Angeles v. Los Angeles Unified School District, 54 Cal.4th 504 (2012), the California Supreme Court held that if a collective bargaining agreement directly conflicts with provisions of the state Education Code, a trial court can refuse to order arbitration under that agreement. The court did not hold that the provisions at issue did, in fact, conflict with the code, but rather, remanded the case to the trial court for that determination.