Major charter school expansion in the works for L.A. Unified students
A prominent local education foundation is discussing a major expansion of charter schools in Los Angeles aimed at boosting academic achievement for students at the lowest performing campuses.
Details of the project are not yet fully clear. But charter school leaders said they have met with officials from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in recent months about the effort. The Keck Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and other organizations that support the independently run, publicly financed charters also are involved, according to people who attended the meetings. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
The Broad Foundation said the charter plan is in an early, exploratory phase, but declined to provide specific information.
"People have been demanding better public schools forever and not getting them," said Swati Pandey, a spokeswoman for the foundation. "We hope this will be a bigger, better and more ambitious effort to make that happen."
The people who attended the meetings said organizers displayed maps showing Los Angeles neighborhoods where they said thousands of students are going to under-performing public schools.
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http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-charters-20150808-story.html