Dear : We have been deeply involved in improving K-12 public schools for 16 years and have invested more than $650 million in a range of initiatives, including $144 million to grow and support public charter schools, to ensure that every student in America has access to a great education and the chance to make the most of his or her potential. Additionally, we have invested more than $440 million in our adopted hometown of Los Angeles, including $77 million in Los Angeles public charter schools. You have joined us in these efforts to improve the quality of K-12 leadership, create a new talent pool of teachers, develop high-quality school options for families, and improve state and national education policies. We are proud that our work has made a significant impact on the lives of thousands of students. Even so, we need to do more. In Los Angeles, we believe we have a landmark opportunity to make an even greater impact for students most in need – low-income students of color. Public charter schools represent the greatest hope for students in L.A. Today, of the more than 643,000 students who attend public schools in Los Angeles, over 151,000 – or nearly 25 percent – are estimated to attend public charter schools. These schools are among the best-performing in the nation. The students who attend these schools receive 79 more days of learning in math and 50 more days of learning in reading compared to their peers attending traditional LAUSD schools. The high school graduation rate of public charter school students is 13 percent higher than their peers in district schools. But too many students cannot access a high-quality charter school in Los Angeles because there are not enough seats. Families are clamoring to secure a charter school spot for their children. In the past three years, the demand for a charter seat in Los Angeles has increased by 173 percent. Right now, more than 41,000 students are on waitlists. We believe there is an unprecedented opportunity to meet the demand of these students and their families with a bold plan to expand the charter sector to serve 50 percent of Los Angeles public school students. We are committed to closing the waitlist and ensuring that every family in L.A. has access to a high-quality public school. Such dramatic charter school growth would address the needs of families who have been underserved by public schools for years, if not generations. It would also be a bellwether for cities around the country, demonstrating that families can demand and achieve access to high-quality public schools for their children. Los Angeles is already well-positioned to achieve 50 percent charter market share: the city has a growing, high-performing charter sector, a growing advocacy community, and strong accountability measures to ensure that any new schools are high quality. 1    P a g e       As with all of our philanthropic efforts in education, we know that we cannot do this alone. To fulfill its potential, the Los Angeles charter sector needs wide-reaching philanthropic investment. Charter schools – whether they are new start-ups, emerging networks, or established charter management organizations – require facilities; start-up capital; talented staff and teachers; and engaged, politically active families. To provide these necessary resources, the L.A. charter sector will require $490 million in new philanthropy over the next eight years. If we are successful in working together on this ambitious project, Los Angeles will become a model for every city in America. We will demonstrate that a great public education for every student is possible. The stakes are extraordinarily high. In all our years working to improve public schools, we have never been so optimistic about a strategy that we believe has the potential to dramatically change not only the lives of thousands of students but also the paradigm of public education in this country. If we can do this in Los Angeles, we can do this in every city in America. Sincerely, Eli Broad                 2    P a g e       The Great Public Schools Now Initiative (“Great Public Schools Now”) June 2015 Confidential Memorandum       3    P a g e       Contents   Executive  Summary  .....................................................................................................................................  6   The  Potential  of  Los  Angeles  .......................................................................................................................  7   Background:  Systemic  Failure  to  Educate  ....................................................................................................  9   Charter  Schools:  A  Solution  to  the  Problem  ..............................................................................................  10   A.   Background  ....................................................................................................................................  10   B.   Charter  Growth  and  Market  Share  ................................................................................................  10   C.   Growing  Diversity  Among  Charter  Operators  ................................................................................  11   D.   Enrollment  Trends  .........................................................................................................................  12   E.   High  Quality  Across  the  Charter  Sector  .........................................................................................  13   F.   Performance  Compared  to  LAUSD  ................................................................................................  14   G.   Los  Angeles  Charter  Schools:  Outstanding  Results  ........................................................................  16   H.   Addressing  the  Achievement  Gap  .................................................................................................  18   I.   The  Broad  Foundation’s  Investments  in  Los  Angeles  Charters  ......................................................  20   Growing  Demand  for  High-­‐Performing  Charters  .......................................................................................  21   Improving  Conditions  for  Los  Angeles  Charters  ........................................................................................  23   A.   CCSA’s  Leadership  and  Recent  Prop.  39  Victory  ............................................................................  23   B.   May  2015  LAUSD  School  Board  Elections  ......................................................................................  23   C.   Growing  Political  Strength  .............................................................................................................  23   Vision    ........................................................................................................................................................  26   The  Potential  of  Future  Charter  Growth  ....................................................................................................  27   Challenges  to  Growth  ................................................................................................................................  29   A.   Facilities  .........................................................................................................................................  29   B.   Human  Capital  ...............................................................................................................................  29                          1.          Teacher  Recruitment  ...........................................................................................................  29                          2.          School  Leader  Recruitment  .................................................................................................  30   C.   Quality  ...........................................................................................................................................  30   D.   Fundraising  Risk  .............................................................................................................................  31   Investment  Plan  .........................................................................................................................................  31   A.   Scale  High-­‐Performing  Charter  Schools  .........................................................................................  31   B.   Develop  Facilities  Solutions  ...........................................................................................................  33   C.   Recruit  and  Develop  Strong  Teachers  and  Principals  ....................................................................  34   D.   Organizing  and  Advocacy  ...............................................................................................................  36   4    P a g e       E.   Fund  Management  ........................................................................................................................  38   F.   Total  Projected  Investment  ...........................................................................................................  39   Appendices  ................................................................................................................................................  40   A.   Established  and  Emerging  CMOs  in  LAUSD  (2014-­‐15)  ...................................................................  40   B.   Potential  Foundation  and  Individual  Partners  ...............................................................................  42   C.   Descriptions  of  Los  Angeles  CMOs  .................................................................................................  44         5    P a g e       Executive  Summary   Across the United States, too many students lack access to the educational opportunities they need to succeed in the 21st century. No city exemplifies this challenge more than Los Angeles. State assessment data, graduation rates, and college readiness indicators all point toward an education system that does not equip students with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive. Yet while the academic, financial, governance, and leadership challenges confronting the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are severe, there is hope – and it is growing. The public charter school sector in Los Angeles is outperforming the traditional system and better preparing its 151,000 students1 for success after high school. On average, Los Angeles charter schools deliver 79 more days of learning in math and 50 more days of learning in reading than their district counterparts.2 The opportunity is ripe for a significant expansion of high-quality charter schools in Los Angeles. Thanks to the strength of its charter leaders and teachers, as well as its widespread civic and philanthropic support, Los Angeles is uniquely positioned to create the largest, highest-performing charter sector in the nation. Such an exemplar would serve as a model for all large cities to follow. This memorandum discusses an historic opportunity to expand the charter sector in Los Angeles. Such an effort will gather resources, help high-quality charters access facilities, develop a reliable pipeline of leadership and teaching talent, and replicate their success. If executed with fidelity, this plan will ensure that no Los Angeles student remains trapped in a low-performing school. This effort will be structured over an eight-year period from 2016 to 2023 with the following objectives: (1) to create 260 new high-quality charter schools, (2) to generate 130,000 high-quality charter seats, and (3) to reach 50 percent charter market share. In order to achieve these goals, this initiative will need to accelerate charter schools’ existing growth plans by providing financial capital and addressing three major growth barriers: facilities, talent, and the political climate. Los Angeles charter schools are currently on a trajectory to create around 62,000 seats. With an added investment of $490 million, however, charter schools should be able to create an additional 68,000, reaching the goal of 130,000 seats by 2023. The following pages describe this $490 million initiative in greater detail.                                                                                                                         1 2 This includes both dependent and independent charter school students. “Charter School Performance in Los Angeles.” Center for Research on Educational Outcomes. 2014. 6    P a g e       The  Potential  of  Los  Angeles   Los Angeles has a long history as the most vibrant, international American city with worldwide cultural and economic influence. From its strategic perch as a crossroads between the United States and Asia, Los Angeles and its citizens have been at the leading edge of innovation and creativity for more than a century. Los Angeles is a global city, with strengths not only in entertainment and media, but also in business, international trade, culture, fashion, science, sports, technology, medicine, and research. In addition, Los Angeles has many of the finest universities in the world. The city is home to the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; the California Institute of Technology; six campuses of the California State University system; and 21 campuses of the California Community College system. Los Angeles is near the top in the number of bachelor and graduate degrees per square mile. The city has been ranked sixth in the Global Cities Index and ninth in the Global Economic Power Index. Los Angeles’s 2012 gross metropolitan product (GMP) was $755 billion, making it the third-largest in the world. Los Angeles is also the leading manufacturing center in the western United States. The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together are the largest and most significant ports in the Western Hemisphere – larger than all other ports in the United States, combined – making it vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Despite this dynamic economy, Los Angeles has struggled mightily to educate its K-12 students, mirroring the challenges faced by many American cities. Schools within the geographic boundaries of LAUSD educate more than 643,000 K-12 public school students, most of whom are low-income. Approximately 76 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch and more than 90 percent are students of color. The achievement of students attending LAUSD schools is poor. According to recent College Board data, only 27 percent of Los Angeles seniors met the college readiness benchmark on the SAT, indicating that they would graduate from high school ready for college. Moreover, according to the California Department of Education, 136 schools in LAUSD are in the lowest decile in terms of performance for all schools in the state. Yet there are signs of hope and promise for students in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the largest population of public charter school students of any city in the United States, and the charter sector consistently performs well above its expected benchmarks. Students in independent charter schools in LAUSD significantly outperform similar students in traditional schools in the district.3 Los Angeles charter                                                                                                                         3 Fensterwald, John. “Los Angeles Charter Schools Record among the Biggest Learning Gains in Nation.” Edsource.org. 18 Mar. 2014. 7    P a g e       schools also outpace charter schools nationally, according to CREDO, which published an extensive national comparison in 2013. “The results in Los Angeles are among the strongest observed in any of the previous CREDO studies,” the report said. But while those served by public charter schools in Los Angeles benefit greatly from their educational opportunities, too many students remain on waitlists and are unable to access a quality education. Los Angeles has a chance to demonstrate how a large, diverse city can change life possibilities and outcomes for students, families, schools and communities. The Great Public Schools Now Initiative (Great Public Schools Now) is a bold, multi-year strategy to meet growing demand for high-quality charters in Los Angeles and ensure that every student can access an excellent public school. In order to accomplish this mission, Great Public Schools Now will work to (1) create and replicate a large number of high-performing public charter schools in Los Angeles, (2) develop the pathways and supports needed to increase the city’s supply of excellent teachers and outstanding school leaders, and (3) build popular and political support for the transformation of K-12 education. A number of outstanding national and local organizations and entrepreneurs are already working in Los Angeles to accomplish these goals. Our city’s highest-performing charter school operators are prepared to serve many more students and families. A dedicated pool of philanthropic capital will enable charter schools, their partner organizations, and advocates to work together to transform education in Los Angeles. This is also an opportunity to create a national proof point for other states and cities seeking to dramatically improve K-12 education. If this effort is successful, governors, mayors, and other leaders across the country can point to Los Angeles as a city where a coordinated set of important investments significantly improved opportunities for students, families, and the city.       8    P a g e       Background:  Systemic  Failure  to  Educate   Across the country, urban school districts are not serving students. This failure is particularly acute for low-income and minority students who are in the greatest need of a quality education. For far too many students, zip code continues to dictate educational destiny. These students have the same potential for success in life as their higherincome peers, but the doors to higher achievement and life opportunity are often shut by chronically low-performing schools and traditional school systems that are unwilling or unable to break the status quo. Major urban public school districts have changed little in the last 15 years. Most still have central offices with large bureaucracies. Millions of children remain stuck in chronically underperforming schools subject to sporadic and often futile turnaround efforts. Urban school districts continue to be disproportionately affected by high rates of leadership turnover, harmful teacher tenure policies, and budget cuts. The tens of millions of dollars invested in reform efforts each year represent a pittance in a sector with annual expenditures of more than $600 billion. The result of those efforts has been incremental improvement at best. Year after year, results show little progress toward raising student achievement for the more than 15 million students in urban districts that struggle to get 15 or 20 percent of their students reading proficiently. Despite more than a decade of federal law designed to close the achievement gap between white students and their African-American and Latino counterparts, there has been little progress toward narrowing that divide. 9    P a g e       Charter  Schools:  A  Solution  to  the  Problem   Polling data consistently show that parents of school-aged children, as well as the public at large, are dissatisfied with the performance of LAUSD. LAUSD’s inability to improve academic performance, resolve its financial deficit, and provide stable leadership has propelled parents to seek better-quality educational opportunities for their children. It is parental demand that has allowed Los Angeles to become the home of the largest charter school population in the nation. And it is parental demand that will allow for even greater expansion of charter schools in the coming decade. A. Background   Los Angeles currently has the highest population of charter school students of any city in the United States, with more than 151,000 students4 across 287 schools estimated for the 2014-15 school year. The size of Los Angeles’s charter sector alone would place it in the top 20 of the 100 largest school districts in the nation, and it is nearly double the size of the charter sector in New York City. Yet even with this massive growth, charter quality in Los Angeles is actually increasing. Los Angeles charters are serving as hotbeds for innovation and achievement, with examples of the charter promise being proven by performance metrics and college readiness rates. With the continual regression of LAUSD, it has become increasingly clear that better school options for communities in Los Angeles will only come about through the expansion of the charter sector. (See Appendices A and C for a list and description of charter school organizations in Los Angeles.) B. Charter  Growth  and  Market  Share   Despite a challenging political context and low per-pupil funding, Los Angeles charters have maintained impressive growth over the past several years. In 2007-08 there were slightly more than 47,000 charter students in Los Angeles, with a total market share of seven percent. In the 2014-15 school year, that number is expected to surpass 151,000, with market share closer to one-fourth of all public school students in the city (24 percent). This represents an increase of over 200 percent and is reflective of the success of charters to push past environmental and political factors and achieve sustainable growth over time.                                                                                                                         4 This includes both dependent and independent charter school students. 10    P a g e                       C. Growing  Diversity  Among  Charter  Operators   As the number of charters in Los Angeles draws closer to 300 schools, the mix of charter operators in the city also continues to expand. As the preceding chart illustrates, freestanding charters (i.e., single-site operators) are projected to reach 140 schools in 2014-15. At close to 50 percent of the charter school market, they represent an important population of charter growth and help to expand the charter footprint in neighborhoods throughout the city. The proportion of new charters started by single-site operators has been steady over time, and that trend is expected to continue. Their sizeable population reflects the strength of the Los Angeles market to continually attract “edupreneurs” that see the city as a place with a high need for quality 11    P a g e       schools and the right conditions to launch them. This steady pipeline of fresh talent and growing school options is an important factor that will help sustain the health and longevity of the Los Angeles charter sector for years to come. D. Enrollment  Trends   As significant as the growth of charters has been over the past decade, the enrollment loss experienced by LAUSD has been just as telling. For the past six years, enrollment in charter schools has been growing an average of 11 percent per year. Conversely, the district has seen its enrollment shrink by 1.4 percent per year, on average, over that same period. LAUSD estimates that 44 percent of their student attrition has been to charter competitors.5 It is clear that families throughout Los Angeles are not satisfied with the quality of their neighborhood public schools, and they are sending a strong message that they are willing and ready to choose better options. Growth in Student Enrollment: LAUSD Charters 2007-08 to 2014-15 151,746   24%  market  share   47,470   7%   market   share   2007-­‐08   2008-­‐09   2009-­‐10   2010-­‐11   2011-­‐12   2012-­‐13   2013-­‐14   2014-­‐15   (Es/mate)                                                                                                                           5 Romo, Vanessa. “Dip in Enrollment could Cost LAUSD Hundreds of Millions.” LA School Report. 18 Mar 2014. 12    P a g e       E. High  Quality  Across  the  Charter  Sector   The growth of Los Angeles charter schools can be attributed in large part to the quality of the education they provide. The Los Angeles sector has consistently produced impressive academic results, and these gains have been maintained despite tremendous growth in schools. The result has been a charter sector where the vast majority of schools perform well above performance benchmarks. In 2013, more than half (52 percent) of charters in Los Angeles had an API over 800 (compared to 29 percent for LAUSD) and produced an average API score of 811 (compared to 745 for LAUSD). 6                                                                                                                         6 The Academic Performance Index (API) is a measure of academic performance and progress of individual schools in California. It is one of the main components of the state’s school accountability system and is based primarily on state student assessments. API scores ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. An API score of 800 is the State of California’s goal for all schools, a minimal quality school benchmark. 13    P a g e       LA Charters API Growth 2013 LAUSD # of Schools % of Schools # of Schools % of Schools 800+ 115 52% 218 29% 700-800 77 35% 326 44% 600-700 24 11% 124 17% Below 600 1 0.5% 59 8% No Score 5 N/A 15 N/A Average API   811 745 F. Performance  Compared  to  LAUSD   According to the California Charter Schools Association’s (CCSA) “Similar Students Measure,” traditional LAUSD schools are twice as likely to be in the bottom five percent and 10 percent of California public schools compared to LAUSD charter schools. Moreover, charters are eight times more likely to be in the top five percent. Nearly onefifth of all LAUSD charter students (18.77 percent) attend schools in the top five percent, while less than two percent of LAUSD traditional public school students attend schools of that performance level. Nearly 15 percent of LAUSD traditional public school students attend schools that are in the lowest decile of all public schools statewide. Only six percent of charter school students in Los Angeles attend schools that are similarly underperforming. And unlike LAUSD, many of these low-performing charters are likely to be targeted for closure. 14    P a g e       In fact, charter schools appear to have had a positive effect on LAUSD’s performance metrics. As the following graph shows, there is a positive association between the number of charter schools in LAUSD and graduation and API scores. 80%   760   70%   740   60%   720   50%   700   40%   680   30%   660   20%   640   10%   620   0%   LAUSD  Growth  API   Market  Share/Grad  Rates   Charter  Market  Share  vs.  LAUSD  Growth  API  and   Adjusted  Cohort  Graduaaon  Rate   600   2010   2011   Charter  Market  Share   2012   2013   Graduaaon  Rates   2014   API   This trend is reflected in other cities across the country. In March 2014, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University published the results of a study evaluating the impact of Washington, DC’s growing charter sector on the performance of district schools. CREDO concluded that “competition from charter schools with higher than average quality is associated with increased growth in both math and reading at traditional [Washington, DC] public schools.”7 Traditional public schools facing particularly strong charter competition (i.e., schools in close proximity to high-performing charter schools) experienced improvements in student achievement equivalent to 2.5 additional months in math and 2 additional months in reading relative to a control group.                                                                                                                         7  Cremata, E.J. and Raymond, M.E. “The Competitive Effects of Charter Schools: Evidence from the District of Columbia,” CREDO Working Paper, March 1, 2014.   15    P a g e       G. Los  Angeles  Charter  Schools:  Outstanding  Results   CREDO has recognized Los Angeles as one of the strongest public charter school sectors in the nation. In comparison to traditional public schools in the city, Los Angeles charters perform significantly better in both reading and math (see graphic below).   This performance has resulted in charter school students receiving more learning time compared to their traditional public school peers. On average, Los Angeles charters deliver 79 more days8 of learning in math and 50 more days of learning in reading than do traditional LAUSD public schools. Public charter schools in Los Angeles are generating the learning equivalent of an extra four months in math and two-and-a-half months in reading (see chart below).                                                                                                                         8 CREDO defines each .01 change in standard deviation as 7.2 days of learning. 16    P a g e       Average  Learning  Gains  in  Los  Angeles  Charter  Schools   Compared  to  Gains  for  Peer  Students   Math   Reading   0   10   20   30   40   50   60   70   80   90   Addi/onal  Days  of  Learning   Source:  Center  for  Research  on  Educaaonal  Outcomes.  2014.  Charter  School  Performance  in  Los  Angeles.  Stanford:  CREDO.   As for priority student populations, the data is also strong. Students in poverty who are enrolled in Los Angeles charter schools perform significantly better both in reading and in math compared to students in poverty in traditional public schools. Charter students in poverty have growth equivalent to 14 more days of learning in reading and 43 more days of learning in math than their traditional public school peers (see graph below). Average  Learning  Gains  for  High  Poverty   Students  in  Los  Angeles  Charters  Compared   to  Gains  for  Peer  Students   Reading   Math   0   10   20   30   40   50   Addi/onal  Days  of  Learning   17    P a g e       English Language Learner (ELL) students are also showing impressive gains. ELL students in Los Angeles charter schools have significantly better results in reading than ELL students in traditional public schools. The benefit for ELL charter students amounts to 36 days of learning in reading. These same students who are English Language Learners have also shown learning gains in math at charters compared to traditional public schools. Average  Learning  Gains  for  ELL  Students  in   Los  Angeles  Charters  Compared  to  Gains  for   Peer  Students   Reading   Math   0   5   10   15   20   25   30   35   40   Addiaonal  Days  of  Learning       H. Addressing  the  Achievement  Gap   In 2014, CCSA released a report documenting strong college readiness outcomes for students in public charter schools, particularly for historically disadvantaged student groups. The report noted that 76 percent of students in charter schools 18    P a g e       completed the University of California’s A-G requirements, as compared with 18 percent in traditional public schools.9 This report also demonstrated that Los Angeles charter schools surpass traditional LAUSD schools in graduating college-ready students of all backgrounds. Key findings include: • The percentage of high school graduates who complete all college preparatory coursework is four times as high at charter schools as it is at traditional LAUSD schools. • Charter schools graduate high school students at higher rates than traditional LAUSD schools – 79 percent versus 66 percent for LAUSD schools. • Charter schools are closing the achievement gap for high school students who have historically been left behind by the system. This includes lowincome students, Latino and African-American students, and students who are English Language Learners. • Charter high schools that serve Los Angeles’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged students continue to deliver a higher percentage of college-ready graduates than their traditional school counterparts.                                                                                                                         9 California Charter Schools Association. 2014. Fact Sheet: Los Angeles Charter Schools and CollegeReadiness. 19    P a g e       I. The  Broad  Foundation’s  Investments  in  Los  Angeles  Charters   Los Angeles public charter schools have proven to be some of The Broad Foundation’s most successful investments. Since 2004, the Foundation has invested more than $75 million in public charter operators and charter-support organizations in Los Angeles. The result was the creation of 67 new schools serving more than 29,000 students. Much of this funding helped to catapult the growth of some of the most respected operators in the city, including KIPP Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, and the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools. These organizations have turned our investments into significant academic gains for students (see English/Language Arts and Math tables below). The Broad Foundation also extensively supports CCSA, which has brought about some of the city’s most important policy wins, including charter authorization, school accountability, student funding and facilities access. English/Language Arts (ELA) Proficiency Rates Alliance MS Alliance HS Green Dot KIPP LA   200809 37 44 40 54 200910 37 43 29 62 201011 38 44 34 68 201112 46 45 35 75 201213 42 52 37 74 % Change from 2008-09 to 2012-13 14% 18% -8% 37% 201213 36 33 28 77 % Change from 2008-09 to 2012-13 3% 57% 87% 35% Math Proficiency Rates Alliance MS Alliance HS Green Dot KIPP LA     200809 35 21 15 57 200910 41 23 16 58 201011 34 32 21 74 201112 35 30 25 80   20    P a g e       Growing  Demand  for  High-­‐Performing  Charters   As the number of high-performing charter schools has increased, so has parental demand for alternatives to failing district schools. As the following chart shows, 41,830 students are on waiting lists for charter schools within LAUSD. This is compared to fewer than 10,000 students across the 16 school districts that comprise the Bay Area and around 5,000 students in the San Diego Unified School District. California Charter School Unduplicated Estimated Waitlist by Geography (2014-2015) Source: California Charter Schools Association (April 2015) Average Waitlist # of Students on Charters w/ Data* per Charter Waitlists Regions Greater L.A. 350 152 53,200 Northeast & Central Valley 313 137 42,800 Southern CA 187 194 36,200 North Coast & Bay 279 96 26,700 School Districts Los Angeles USD 269 155 41,830 San Jose** 52 108 5,620 San Diego USD 55 99 5,440 Oakland USD 38 70 2,680 Counties Los Angeles 325 153 49,840 San Diego 112 147 16,470 Bay Area*** 110 90 9,940 Riverside 25 312 7,810 San Bernardino 32 235 7,530 Santa Clara 58 110 6,390 Sacramento 46 136 6,380 San Joaquin 39 127 4,940 Alameda 55 82 4,520 Sonoma 55 82 4,530 Fresno 36 114 4,090 Placer 22 193 4,240 Stanislaus 26 102 2,660 *CCSA obtained self-reported or estimated data for 1,129 schools in 2014-15. **Includes San Jose Unified, East Side Union High, and six elementary districts ***Includes 16 school districts, including San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified, Hayward Unified, and San Jose Unified 21    P a g e       Despite the recent growth in charter schools, there is still significant need for highquality public educational options throughout the city as nearly 400,000 students, 80 percent of whom quality for free or reduced-price lunch, languish in low-performing schools, which the State of California defines as schools with API scores below 800. The problem is particularly acute in certain neighborhoods where parents have zero quality options at some grade levels. For example, in the Van Nuys/Sun Valley and South L.A./Huntington Park areas, there are no high-performing district schools at the middle- or high-school levels. In East L.A./Boyle Heights, there are no high-performing district middle schools. The following map shows the distribution of high- and low-performing LAUSD schools. High-performing district schools (API ≥800) are shown in blue while low-performing district schools (API <800) are shown in red. You can see large clusters of lowperforming schools in the three aforementioned neighborhoods. These areas are especially ripe for charter expansion.     22    P a g e       Improving  Conditions  for  Los  Angeles  Charters   As policy issues emerge at the state and local level, it will be important to ensure that resources are in place to protect and fight for the conditions on the ground that help charters thrive. Three recent developments have improved the landscape in Los Angeles for charter growth. A. CCSA’s  Leadership  and  Recent  Prop.  39  Victory   California is fortunate to have an engaged and effective advocacy partner in CCSA, whose work has significantly improved the political and regulatory landscape for charter schools. CCSA’s legal team is particularly strong, as evidenced by their recent victory in court over LAUSD in CCSA v. LAUSD, et al. Just last month, after five years of aggressive litigation, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of CCSA, citing LAUSD’s failure to allocate facilities to charter schools in accordance with Prop. 39.10 This ruling will likely improve public charter schools’ access to classroom space in Los Angeles, somewhat helping to alleviate the facilities challenge. B. May  2015  LAUSD  School  Board  Elections     The recent Board elections also moved in a positive direction, although there is still not a pro-charter majority. Ref Rodriguez, the co-founder of Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC) charter schools, was able to defeat Bennett Kayser, who was an implacable foe of charters and opposed charter petitions routinely. While another charter supporter, Tamar Galatzan, was defeated for re-election, many are hopeful that the victor in that race, Mark Schmerelson, will take a reasonable position toward charter expansion. CCSA Families, CCSA’s organizing wing, turned out more than 4,000 votes in the runoff election. CCSA continues to increase its capacity in Los Angeles and is in the process of recruiting multiple local parent organizers. C. Growing  Political  Strength                                                                                                                           10 Proposition 39 was a statewide ballot initiative passed by California voters in 2000 that requires school districts to provide facilities to charter schools. School districts have employed a variety of techniques in order to avoid complying with the law and to prevent charter schools from accessing public school facilities. 23    P a g e       Across the country, the political power of charter school parents continues to grow. More families are demanding more high-quality choices and are supporting their charter schools (as can be seen in this 6,000 person rally in Los Angeles organized by CCSA). The number of parents with children in charter schools now dwarfs the number of teachers who are members of the California Teachers Association and the California 24    P a g e       Federation of Teachers. In addition, and as the chart below illustrates, the number of parents with children on charter waitlists now exceeds the number of UTLA members.11 Parental  Waitlist  Numbers  vs.  UTLA  Membership   60,000   50,000   45,000   48,438   40,000   31,000   30,000   20,000   17,784   10,000   0   2010/11   2011/12   2012/13   2014/15   UTLA  Membership   Esamated  Number  of  Parents  with  Children  on  Charter  Waitlists   When parents are effectively engaged, organized and mobilized, positive political change for charters in California will not only be possible, but will be expected.                                                                                                                             11 For number of parents, we assumed a number of households have less than one parent (factor of 1.3) and we assumed 10 percent of households have siblings. 25    P a g e       Vision   The following is the vision for this work over the next eight years:   • Students will no longer be doomed to the purgatory of a waitlist. Every parent in Los Angeles will have a choice about where to educate their child and will have the information needed to make an informed decision. There will be quality public school options in every neighborhood. • High-quality public charter schools will serve at least 50 percent of the student population in the LAUSD region. • Los Angeles will have the strongest set of teacher and leader development programs of any city in the State of California. • Less than 10 percent of California’s failing schools will be in Los Angeles. • Los Angeles will be a model for how other cities can be transformed through alignment around policy, human capital strategy, advocacy, the supply of highquality public schools, and targeted philanthropic investments.   26    P a g e       The  Potential  of  Future  Charter  Growth   If current trends continue, 129,504 charter school seats will be needed to meet growing demand from Los Angeles families over the next eight years. Going forward, the charter sector is expected to grow by only about four percent each year. Growth beyond this is constrained by the limits of existing philanthropy. As the following graph shows, this translates to 61,921 seats by the 2023-24 school year (this “baseline” projection is depicted in blue). In order to fill the gap of 67,583 charter seats, this plan outlines a large philanthropic effort – Great Public Schools Now – to boost future charter growth to an average rate of seven percent each year. This rate of growth would not only satisfy growing demand, but would also push the charter sector to 50 percent market share. Without this additional investment, the Los Angeles market would take an additional 12 years (until 2035) to create an equal number of charter seats. Total Charter Seats Created (Baseline vs. Great Public Schools Now) 140,000 50% 120,000 100,000 67,583 80,000 40% 30% 60,000 20% 40,000 61,921 20,000 0 10% 0% 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 Cumulative Charter Seats Created (Great Public Schools Now) Cumulative Charter Seats Created (Baseline) Projected Charter Marketshare       27    P a g e