Coalition to Save Public Education

There is a movement in U. S. education to fund private schools with tax funds. The most common method to do this has been vouchers. Public school advocates have successfully fought off vouchers and sometimes the courts object under the Establishment Clause of the US constitution. Charter schools have emerged in California as the most common way to try to fund private schools with tax dollars.

acramento

The Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) Board of Education, under the influence of Superintendent Jim Sweeney, jumped on the charter school wagon. Several charter schools have been created in the district. The most controversial one now uses the Sacramento High School campus.

Charter schools are supposed start as a result of a movement by parents and teachers of a certain school. The district then issues a charter. For years, the SCUSD underfunded schools in poorer neighborhoods like Oak Park, in the Sacramento High School attendance areafact|date=September 2008. Sacramento High teachers were against forming a charter school. Most parents were against it, and many community members were not in favor. So, the SCUSD Board used a new method to create a charter at Sacramento High School. SCUSD closed Sacramento High School. They, then, issued a charter to St. Hope, Kevin Johnson's Christian based school, and gave him exclusive use of the campus.

Because this was not the standard way of creating a charter, some parents, along with the teacher's union, sued the district. The court found that SCUSD violated the charter school law in the way that they created this charter high school. A consent decree was entered into by the plaintiffs, St. Hope, and SCUSD. This settlement required that SCUSD create a public high school for the attendance area served by Sacramento High School. By law, a child can not be forced into a charter school. In December 2007, the Board of Trustees voted to place the Consent-Decree High School on the campus of Marian Anderson, a convert|6|acre|m2|sing=on elementary school, currentlywhen housing a pre-school and Emotionally Disabled elementary students. The new high school will not be a a traditional comprehensive school. It will have open enrollment from throughout the district. It will not have a sports program. The District plans to open this school in the fall of 2008, with a freshman class.

Some Sacramentans were opposed to charter schools because they view them as an attack on public education. Kevin Johnson's public statements against public unions appeared in the Sacramento Bee. Sacramento Charter High School is run by a private Board of Directors from St. Hope Public Schools. It's teachers are not represented by a union.

Parents and community members were also angered by the refusal of Kevin Johnson to share the campus with the Visual And Performing Arts Center (VAPAC). This program was a jewel of ourwho education systemfact|date=September 2008 where students could learn skills in theater arts, vocal music, instrumental music, dance, and visual arts. VAPAC was forced to become a dependent charter school (meaning it was staffed by district, unionized personnel) and had to relocate to the old Army Depot which was two bus rides away from any neighborhood. This charter school closed in 2007.

Oak Park also lost MESL Honors Academy because Kevin Johnson would not share the campus with this program that gets Oak Park kids into college.

Disgruntled parents, educators, and community members formed the Coalition to Save Public Education to counteract what was perceived as an attack on unionized public schools, and the abrogation of the responsibility of the district to fund education for every child.