"Eli's so enamored with charter schools, he's willing to put millions and millions of dollars into them simply because they're charter schools," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
Duffy questioned both the staying power of higher test scores at some charter schools as well as what he called their focus on "teaching to the test," which he characterized as simplistic and counterproductive.
Broad emerged as a force in the local school reform wars in 1999, when he helped bankroll then-Mayor Richard Riordan's effort to elect school board allies. He also was the person most responsible for recruiting former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer to head L.A. Unified, which Romer did from 2000 to 2006. In addition, Broad has funded a training academy for school district leaders and awards the national Broad Prize to one well-regarded school district each year.
Broad has rarely donated directly to L.A. Unified, although he has supported the new arts high school under construction on Grand Avenue downtown. He has continued to make sizable campaign donations in school board elections -- preferring candidates who say they won't micromanage, especially if he believes they will oppose the teachers union when he thinks it necessary.
Broad declined to comment on the district's recent reform record, or on the mayor's specific efforts. But he said progress in New York City shows that large school districts can make huge strides and that cooperative unions, such as the one in New York, can play an immensely helpful role.
"We've been trying to induce KIPP to come down here because, from what we've seen across America, it's the gold or platinum standard of charter schools," added Broad, who also praised Aspire highly.
Both KIPP and Aspire operate schools in traditionally underserved, poor and working-class urban communities with low-achieving Latino or African American students.
On test scores, the L.A.-area KIPP and Aspire schools slipped last year, but both still scored well ahead of schools serving similar students. And the KIPP schools scored better than average among all schools.
Researchers for the Mountain View, Calif.-based nonprofit EdSource concluded last year that, on balance, charter middle schools are clearly outperforming regular public middle schools. EdSource also asserted that schools run by charter-management organizations, such as KIPP and Aspire, are consistently doing better than other charter schools.
