L.A. school board will weigh new policy to both help and rein in charters

There are now more charter schools — enrolling more students — in Los Angeles than in any other city in the country. Their effect and performance were the subject of a Los Angeles Times special report on Sunday.

The number of charter schools is expected to increase sharply, partly as a result of a school board strategy that lets charter operators bid to take control of struggling traditional campuses as well as 50 new ones scheduled to open. Charter operators as well as groups of teachers are to submit final bids today for the first group of 30 campuses.

Charter schools are independently managed schools that are free from many rules that govern traditional schools, including abiding by a school district’s union contracts.

The new charter policy would require that charter school leaders submit financial disclosure forms, with the aim of discouraging as well as highlighting potential conflicts of interest. The California Charter Schools Assn. objects on the grounds that its nonprofit schools would be subject to more disclosure than other nonprofits and that the district's proposed rules represent a new, unnecessary layer of regulation. The association said it doesn’t want its members to have to play by more than one rulebook simultaneously.