The Elite petitioners have good intentions, but privately-run charters are harmful to Solano County kids…

Privately-managed schools receive billions in California taxpayer dollars every year, yet they are not required to follow the same laws and regulations that regular neighborhood public schools are required to follow. Evidence shows that this lack of accountability has led to financial gains for these for-profit corporate charter operators, but has too often been disastrous for thousands of California students and has cost taxpayers millions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse.

We need better rules to support the oversight of charter school operations and ensure more transparency and accountability (such as AB 1478 and SB 808).

School districts should be rooted in democracy, but Elite charter will NOT have an elected school board.

They will make decisions about Solano County students’ future behind closed doors and outside the view of taxpayers’ eyes. That means private charter operators will receive your taxpayer dollars but NOT be fully accountable to the community!

Authorization, oversight and renewal of charters should only be done by the local district in which they are located.

Elite charter will take needed school funding and resources away from our students’ neighborhood schools.

Our students depend on stable and supportive neighborhood schools. When our neighborhood schools lose funding, our kids lose teachers and valuable programs. Loss of funding can also mean eventual school closures which is very harmful and disruptive to students. We need to invest in our local schools, not drain them of resources!

What is Charter Asset Management, the company named in the Elite petition?

Charter Asset Management is a company out of Palo Alto that loans money to charter schools at a very high price. Their founders have strong ties to Wall Street Hedge Funds. They’ve been named in lawsuits and are credited with efforts to privatize public schools. They’re like a Pay-Day lender for charter schools. They’ll loan the money up front, then when the public funds are sent to the school, they get an enormous cut – dollars that should be spent on our students!

Protect our students from privately-run, unregulated charters. Oppose Elite.