California Educator

October / November 2018

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L O W - I N C O M E C H A R T E R school students throughout California will get a nutritious meal every school day when a new law goes into effect next year. Gov. Brown signed AB 1871 (Bonta, D-Oakland) into law in September, ensuring that low-income students in charters have the same access to free and reduced-cost meals as those in all other public schools. Co-sponsored by CTA, the new law will fight hunger, advance equity and support student success by guaranteeing these students have access to school meals. Brown signed similar legislation in 1975. When charter schools were authorized as public schools in 1992, they were made exempt from this requirement. The new law ends the glaring inequity. "Food is fundamental, and hunger doesn't care where a student goes to school," said Assemblymember Rob Bonta. "AB 187 1 means more children will have nourishment and thereby be ready to learn and reach their full potential." More than 340,000 low-income students enrolled in California charter schools will now have guaranteed access to free and reduced-price meals at school, including the more than 80,000 low-income students who are currently going without. Law Clarifies Fair Share Liability N O P U B L I C E M P L O Y E R S , employee associations or labor unions can be forced to return Fair Share service fees collected prior to June 27, following the signing into law of SB 846 by Gov. Brown in September. This bill clari- fies state law related to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on that date that ended the collection of such fees. Lawmakers concerned about potential liability to public agencies wrote this bill to prohibit any legal action against employers and labor unions for the collection of service fees prior to the Supreme Court's decision. The law applies to all pending and future claims, protecting agencies and unions from being held liable for fees collected legally prior to the ruling. State Board of Education Denies Charter Petition I N A R A R E D E C I S I O N , the State Board of Education denied a charter school peti- tion on Sept. 7. A coalition of educators, parents and school officials successfully fought off a new charter school in their community during an appeal hearing with the board. The ruling was the third and final denial issued to the proposed Rocketship charter school in San Pablo. " This denial by the State Board of Education is the right decision," said CTA President Eric Heins. "Local districts and counties should be able to determine the best interests of their students and community." Local concerns about the petition by Rocketship, a nationwide charter corporation, included class sizes, the ability to adequately support spe- cial education students, local control and student retention. Rocketship's proposal had been denied by the local and county school boards prior to the hearing at the state board of education. "Rocketship's flawed pro- posal to open a new school has been denied at the local level and is not supported by educators, parents and local administrators," said Demetrio Gonzalez, president of the United Teachers of Richmond CTA/NEA. The California Department of Education also opposed the petition, citing the "unreal- istic financial and operational plan for the proposed charter school." Charters Now Required to Feed Low-Income Students To learn more about education-related legislation and CTA's positions go to cta.org/legislation. 50 cta.org Advocacy

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