School Choice & Charters

California’s Largest Online Charter School Network Gets Green Light to Unionize

By Arianna Prothero — November 16, 2015 1 min read
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Teachers at California’s largest online charter school network have unionized, according to the San Bernardino County Sun.

The state’s Public Employment Relations Board gave the green light on Oct. 30 to California Virtual Educators to become the official union for California Virtual Academies. The California Teachers Association will be the bargaining representative.

CTA is the statewide National Education Association affiliate, and last year its leadership said it planned to focus more on unionizing charter schools.

In addition to its organizing efforts, California Virtual Educators also filed a series of complaints about the network back in June, saying it failed to meet standards for academic performance, data privacy, Internet access, and truancy, among others.

An official at California Virtual Academies, which is a subsidiary of one of the country’s largest online education providers, K12 Inc., told the San Bernardino County Sun that the company is considering appealing the decision.

This isn’t the only high-profile charter unionizing fight that’s been taking place in California. Staff and union officials are also trying to organize a 27-campus strong charter network in Los Angeles, called the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Charters & Choice blog.