Here’s our pick of recent news about the ongoing effort to privatize public education in California. Not a subscriber? Sign up here.

Prop 39 fight in Carson.A plan to locate a charter school in the same space as a traditional, neighborhood public school is driving up tension in Carson. “Co-locating will just deplete resources from the existing campus,” said Albert Ramirez of L.A. Alliance for a New Economy and Reclaim Our Schools L.A. Daily Breeze

“How a couple worked charter school regulations to make millions.”  The Los Angeles Times published a bombshell expose of a wealthy couple who have pocketed millions of public dollars running charter schools across Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times

Speaking of exposes… Charter schools are beginning to look a lot like payday lenders and for-profit lenders, writes In the Public Interest’s Jeremy Mohler. “The daily drip of charter school scandals is revealing an industry that often preys on those they claim to be trying to help.” In the Public Interest

Can Gavin Newsom break the gridlock?TheLos Angeles Times‘s Anna Phillips sums up the situation statewide: “California is home to about one out of every five charter schools in the United States, but state oversight of them is far from a national model.” Los Angeles Times

Charter chains pay out salaries like corporations.In tax year 2016, the top ten salaries from among Los Angeles Unified School District’s 37 charter management organizations totaled $3.4 million dollars. Red Queen in LAhas the data. Red Queen in LA

Charter school sues Santa Barbara districts. Two different school districts in Santa Barbara County, the Lompoc Unified School District and the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District, are being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by Olive Grove Charter Schools. KSBY 6

How a tiny school district sparked calls for a charter crackdown.The is one of a handful of financially-strapped school districts that boost their budgets by offering authorization and oversight to charter schools dozens or hundreds of miles away. CALmatters

ICYMI…sign this petition to hold charter schools accountable. Educators for Democratic Schools has launched a petition calling for “an immediate moratorium on certifying new charter schools in California, as they are draining funds from public schools and destabilizing school districts.” Sign it here.