Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed SB 166, a bill by Senator Nell Soto (D – Pomona) that would have given more flexibility to school districts seeking improvements at local charter schools.

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger said SB 166 was unnecessary since current law “already contains numerous safeguards to ensure that charter schools are held accountable both fiscally and for their students’ academic performance.”

Not so, says Soto, who introduced her bill in response to a problem that the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) encountered with one of its charter schools. Existing law authorizes charter schools to be established by school boards, county offices of education or the State Board of Education (SBE), for a period of up to five years, and provides that charters may be renewed one or more subsequent times by the granting entity for a period of five years each.

“The school was unable to fulfill some aspects of its charter agreement and LACOE, under current law, would have been required to approve the charter for five more years, file an appeal to the SBE in the hopes of obtaining a waiver of the five year renewal period, or revoke the charter altogether,” Soto said.

“LACOE was willing to help the school improve, but they were reluctant to extend the charter agreement for another five years,” Soto added. “The Governor said that the law already allows districts to revoke charters at any time, but he does not mention the fact that they have to cut through a number of administrative layers to get there.

“The Governor indicated that he wanted to protect charter schools from unfair burdens, but by vetoing my bill, he keeps the burden placed squarely on the shoulders of school officials who are trying to do right by their students.”