Assembly Bill 84 imposes sweeping new regulations on California’s charter schools under the guise of accountability. The bill mandates inflation of bureaucratic oversight and funding cuts for hybrid and homeschool charter models. Conservatives view this as an ideological play by Sacramento progressives intent on strangling school choice and attacking family-centered education
What AB 84 Does
- Creates a state Education Inspector General to audit schools, districts, and charter networks statewide.
- Raises oversight fees from 1% to as much as 3% of charter funding, diverting money from classrooms to administrators.
- Bans enrichment spending on non-credentialed vendors and homeschool programs — crippling flexible, parent-driven educational models.
- Cuts funding for non-classroom-based schools: as much as 30% for those under 75% in-person instruction
Why the Backlash?
Charter schools, especially hybrid and homeschool models, serve conservative families by allowing greater parental involvement and moral alignment. Many students rely on these options for a safe learning environment free from progressive indoctrination. AB 84’s funding penalties threaten their viability.
Critics characterize AB 84 as a bureaucratic burden that drains limited funds. According to the California Charter Schools Development Center, the bill places “costly, burdensome overreach” on charter schools and “harms every charter school” by prioritizing compliance over instruction.
Financial Ramifications
School districts collect heavier oversight fees while charters lose autonomy and funding—resources better spent on students. For conservative Christian parents, this undermines the biblical principle of parental responsibility in child rearing. Without public enforcement, the state uses coercion to silence alternatives to left-leaning public education.
The bill’s expansion of centralized oversight contradicts the conservative value of limited government and local control. By increasing state power and diminishing local decision-making, AB 84 shifts authority away from families and communities, into Sacramento bureaucracy.
What Can Be Done?
Opposition efforts are underway—including petitions, testimonials at hearings, and lobbying—urging lawmakers to vote down AB 84 or amend its punitive provisions.
Families concerned about faith-based homeschooling and flexible learning models should contact Assembly members before the bill reaches the Senate. Public officials must uphold parents’ rights, not undermine them through heavy-handed regulation.
