The Challenge
Nearly 80,000 K-12 students throughout the state attend APLUS+ member Personalized Learning public charter schools. These students have chosen a non-traditional educational model because they want a flexible learning plan that is tailored to their needs. AB 1316 would have restricted the number of students who could enroll in Personalized Learning public charter schools and decimated their state funding. Packaged as necessary “reforms” aimed at a few bad actors, this bill would have severely limited school choice and fundamentally changed the flexible education delivery model that tens of thousands of students depend on.
solution
- KP worked to redefine Personalized Learning by using both quantitative data and personal stories to demonstrate the success of Personalized Learning students, the consequences of students losing this education option, and the unprecedented inequities proposed by certain policymakers.
- Using academic data from APLUS+ member schools KPworked to discredit an out-of-state, political document that policymakers were using as justification for pushing their biased agenda.
- KP promoted education equity messages by putting a face on Personalized Learning students and framed the attack on public charter school students as a political ploy backed by the education establishment.
- KP created significant noise in moderate Democratic legislative districts through meetings, letters, phone calls, social media and earned media coverage in major daily, ethnic and education news outlets.
results
- AB 1316 stalled and attempts by the education establishment to insert some of the issues into an education budget trailer bill at the very end of the legislative session were unsuccessful.
- While Personalized Learning public charter schools still face many threats, KP was successful in educating the political public and key influencers about what Personalized Learning is and why – especially in the midst of a global pandemic – it is a necessary option for thousands of disadvantaged students throughout the state.