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[Tripon]

A state audit released Thursday of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools has cleared the charter school network of any financial wrongdoing in relation to its efforts to fight unionization.

Alliance operates 28 middle and high school charters in Los Angeles. Charter schools are publicly funded, but privately managed. Alliance teachers, as in most charters, are not represented by a union. But two years ago, 67 Alliance teachers began advocating to join United Teachers Los Angeles, a move that the charter network fiercely opposed.

UTLA officials accused Alliance of intimidating teachers and filed several complaints with California’s Public Employment Relations Board, alleging that the network had violated state laws that allow teachers to organize without fear of reprisal. The union also claimed that the network was using taxpayer dollars to pay for lawyers and public relations consultants to defend itself against the unionizing effort.

Instead, the charter network relied on private contributions. According to the audit, it raised about $1.7 million from a network of private donors and benefited from another $2 million in pro bono legal work. As of June 2016, Alliance had spent about $915,000 — including $426,000 on consulting fees, $107,000 on legal costs, and $31,000 for flyers and letters to parents and teachers — in fighting unionization.

“We feel vindicated that we are good stewards of the public dollar and that our focus has been, continues to be, and will always be on running great schools,” said Alliance spokesperson Catherine Suitor. “We’re really happy to put this behind us.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-alliance-charter-audit-20170413-story.html

 

[Captain Zyrain]

I.. uh, good? I mean glad they didn't misspend?