Great victory for East LA families: Extera Charter out!

Los Angeles, CA – The start of the new school year brought good news in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). At the Breed Street, 2nd Street and Eastman Avenue Elementary Schools, Extera charter school has finally moved out.

For years, Extera charter school had occupied space inside the three schools. This co-location status led to Extera taking over classrooms, libraries, auditoriums and playgrounds during the school day, forcing out the public school students and staff. This also led to lower enrollment in public schools.

Centro CSO has organized against charter schools in the Chicano neighborhoods of Boyle Heights and East LA, as charters are seen as an attack on public education, with corporations trying to privatize public schools.

Antonieta Garcia, Centro CSO co-chair of the Education Committee, stated, “We must protect and keep on advocating for public education. This was a great victory for parents, students and the community!”

This practice of allowing charter schools to occupy space within existing public schools is the result of California Proposition 39, a state law initiated by the charter school lobby which requires school districts to make facilities (including both classroom and non-classroom spaces) available to charter schools that serve students who reside in the district. This led to the growth of charter schools, especially in poor, working-class Black and Chicano communities. Charter schools are non-union and are known to be selective in student enrollment.

This co-location led to enrollment decline and many scheduling problems in local schools. The charter schools were also supposed to pay rent for use of the LAUSD public facilities, but many did not.

Due to these problems, people have been holding protests for years at Extera board meetings to get them out. Most of the Extera board members had no history or background in East LA area communities.

In 2025, Extera attempted to buy an old church in East LA with the plan to build a new charter school. Centro CSO and Eastside Padres organized a successful campaign to stop this construction, which resulted in LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis making a motion at the board of supervisors meeting to deny the building permit. This campaign re-energized the community to continue opposing Extera co-locations.

Centro CSO later visited Breed Street, 2nd Street and Eastman Elementary Schools, encouraging parents and staff to oppose Extera, and suggested parent re-enroll their children in the public schools.

Extera finally announced in early 2026 its intent to close and transfer any remaining students to the Green Dot Animo Ellen Ochoa charter school.

Josie Reyes, a parent of students at Eastman Avenue school, stated, “We won against the co-location of Extera and stopped them from growing. Thanks to the Eastman Ave School teachers, parents, UTLA, Centro CSO and Eastside Padres.”

August 2026 saw the final evacuation of Extera.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #PeoplesStruggles #Education #PublicSchool #Teachers #CentroCSO