A Success Story at an Orange County Charter

By California Policy Center
05/15/2023
By Michael Davis Dire were the predictions when our little charter school, Orange County Classical Academy, was approved over three years ago in a famously raucous Orange Unified School District board hearing.  The skepticism was forgivable then but not today. In its first year of operation, 50 percent of OCCA’s English Learners achieved English-language proficiency by the...

TAGS: California Charter School Association, california public schools, Charter schools, orange county, Orange County Board of Education, orange county classical academy, public schools

Orange County Classical Academy Recognized as a California Distinguished School 

By California Policy Center
01/12/2023
The Orange County Classical Academy (OCCA) was recognized this week as a  California Distinguished School, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced. OCCA, a high-performing public charter school, was the only school to receive the prestigious 2023 award in Orange Unified School District.  “Orange County Classical Academy truly deserves to be recognized as a...

TAGS: charter school, Charter schools, Orange County Board of Education, orange county classical academy

Charter School Gets to Continue Operations in Huntington Beach

By R. Claire Friend
07/16/2015
Albert Einstein Academy of Literature, Arts and Science-Huntington Beach opened its doors to 164 K-5 students in August, 2014. The charter school, designated a Blended Learning Center, includes a home study program in addition to the tradition classroom program. The campus is an extension of AEA Santa Clarita, its authorizing authority. Current enrollment has expanded...

TAGS: Charter schools, Orange County Board of Education

Union Monopoly on California's Public Education Remains Largely Unbroken

By Private: Gloria Romero
02/16/2015
Just after Groundhog Day last week, the Brookings Institution released its annual Education Choice and Competition Index report, grading 110 school districts on the degree to which they empower parents with easily accessible, broadly available, publicly funded school choices and the degree to which the choice system results in greater access to quality schools. The...

TAGS: Orange County Board of Education

Money for Nothing – Public Administrators Have Minimal Authority or Accountability

By Edward Ring
01/13/2015
On January 14th the Orange County Board of Education will meet to consider, among other things, approving a 2% increase for the Orange County superintendent’s salary. Using data provided by the Orange County Dept. of Education to Transparent California, it can be seen that in 2013 the superintendent, Al Mijares, earned a base salary of...

TAGS: Al Mijares, Orange County Board of Education