ED Pulls California Charter Funding

The Sacramento Bee (8/19, Lambert) reports that ED has cancelled some $11.5 million in charter school funding for California, quoting a California Department of Education official who noted that ED several months ago "warned that the state did not meet requirements of the Charter Schools Program, which funds two- and three-year grants for new charter schools." ED "said state rules don't emphasize student achievement enough in determining whether to revoke or renew charters," the official said. California "is supposed to" receive some $50 million per year from the program, but ED notified the state on August 11 that "the grant for 2011-12 would be only $40.1 million." The piece notes that further grant reductions could be forthcoming.