Top Takeaways Oversight of 1,280 charter schools is needed after scandals involving theft and mismanagement. One reform bill was pulled, and another was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Legislature. Both bills included provisions to establish a statewide Office of the Education Inspector General with subpoena power. Interest groups that tussled over legislative efforts to crack down on fraud in charter schools hope to try again when the next legislative session begins in January. Key to negotiations is whether Gov. Gavin Newsom is willing to take the lead in bringing opposing sides back to the table. At issue is the oversight of the state’s 1,280 charter schools in the wake of scandals involving theft or mismanagement. Supporters of reforms say guardrails are urgently needed after cases in which a few unscrupulous charter operators stole hundreds of millions of dollars from state public education funds. In other cases, such as the Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools, a lack of oversight meant $180 million was misspent. “Everything is on the table for negotiations,” said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, the sponsor of Assembly Bill 84, a charter school reform bill that Muratsuchi withdrew days before the end of the last legislative session. “The most important thing that we need to happen is for the governor to bring all stakeholders together to negotiate in good faith to close the deal.” A consequence of not passing a reform bill so far means that a moratorium on new nonclassroom-based charter schools that began in 2019…
