Foundation-Run Private Summer Schools Fuel Debate in L.A.

As many California school districts scale back or eliminate summer programs, private classes offered by nonprofit groups in predominantly affluent Los Angeles neighborhoods are prompting a debate about education inequality in the city, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The increasingly popular paid courses, some costing hundreds of dollars, are often taught and administered by school-district employees hired by local education foundations and held on leased high-school campuses. Because they are formally independent of the public system, they sidestep California laws that bar public schools from charging for educational activities.

About 675 such foundations operate statewide, raising money from parents and businesses to address shortfalls in government funding. Critics say the groups, while well-intentioned, effectively privatize summer school, contributing to inequity in educational opportunity.