As with any bureaucracy, the body and its rules and regulations, language, and of course, dollars – is all very complicated. Few people truly understand all of the nuts and bolts of the nation’s school systems. However, a lack of specific knowledge of every detail does not render Joe Citizen incapable of recognizing the obvious.

Presently there’s a battle in the SCV: the public school system versus charter schools, specifically the Albert Einstein Academy for Letters, Arts and Sciences. Over the past four to five years, the local press has chronicled the long-winding road of AEA trying to establish multiple charter schools with most attempts ending in local school districts’ rejections (as permitted by California law).

Most recently, Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District authorized AEA to open a grade school in Valencia that is located, in part, within the boundaries of the Newhall School District.

Charters cannot operate wholly independently; they must have approved curriculums, etc., as established by local school districts. The Newhall School District powers-that-be didn’t like the placement — and viola, a lawsuit emerged. Somebody talked to somebody, because Pasadena Unified School District and Los Angeles Unified School District chimed in as plaintiffs, too, even though AEA does not have a school in either of those districts.

The story made the news in the San Diego Union Tribune.

Although not the only school superintendent against AEA, Newhall Superintendent Marc Winger is a driving vocal and primary foe of AEA. The loud and active objections to AEA roped in State Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and SB1263 was born.

The critics assert they aren’t really against charter schools in general or AEA specifically; it’s that there is a “loophole” in present education law that AEA and the Acton-Agua Dulce District slipped through. Interestingly, the text of SB1263 zeroed in on any charter school opened after April 1, 2013; that just happens to target AEA.

State Sen. Steve Knight and Assemblyman Scott Wilk opposed the bill. Fortunately, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it, but the veto simply got the matter off of his desk; there’ll be more. He thinks the charter school placement issue is a “real problem,” but he was “not comfortable” with “retroactive language that could force existing charter schools to change locations.”

A local newspaper headline of Oct. 10, 2014 read: “Judge rules against Einstein in lawsuit.” Not so fast; that is misleading. Considering what the plaintiffs wanted, the judge ruled against them.

Charter schools provide a choice for parents to educate their children. Charters are not to be mistaken for pricey private schools, but they certainly provide what public schools are not and possibly, with all of the bureaucracies, bureaucrats and red tape, cannot.

The LAUSD is a miserable, failing disaster, and there is more than ample proof of that. SCV schools out-rank that abyss many times over; so why the war? Why not welcome competition and promote a host of positive elements “for the children”?

The appearances are, and they may be well more than appearances, that opposition flows directly from and as a result of unions and money. Unions for administrators, teachers, staff, etc., and of course the “average daily attendance” are huge factors.

I visited AEA in its first year of opening, 2009, looking into it for one of my grandsons. I was impressed then, and I was even more impressed visiting it in 2014.

There are good arguments for AEA:

1. Class size limited to 25. (Current enrollment is stymied at 435 without growth opportunities);

2. Diversity: Non-white enrollment is 40 percent today;

3. “Special needs” enrollment is 11 percent (by comparison, the Hart’s District’s is 9 percxent;

5. AEA’s waiting list increased from 300 in 2009 to 1,100 this month;

6. Four languages are available: Mandarin, Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish;

7. Teachers are at-will employees on a year-to-year contract. They can be terminated at any time, which means they have to perform. The students, other faculty and administration will not spend eternity and precious taxpayer dollars fighting a union over a low-performing or unscrupulous teacher.

8. AEA has hundreds of teacher applicants on file. Logic dictates that confident, well-meaning and performing teachers will seek out a school that allows them to shine above the mediocrity of an impenetrable, shielding union.

The caveat must be stated here that no – there is no anti-sentiment for all public school teachers. The majority is neither bad nor deficient. My hat is off to those who try to bring a learning atmosphere to what seems to be chaos of undisciplined children, non-caring or uncooperative parents, unions and a bureaucratic mandate that even the worst of kids cannot be expelled without an act of God. For me, many teachers deserve combat pay.

To the eye of the observer, superintendents such as Winger reveal themselves more than they think.

The Aug. 20 edition of the San Diego Union Tribune cited Winger as saying, “It’s a mistake to bring charters into the Santa Clarita Valley.” He told reporter Steven Greenhut: “Charter schools like Einstein are siphoning off white, middle-class kids, which points to re-segregating schools.”

What an unfortunate comment. Winger is following the latest national, negative talking point of “when you want to win, play the race card like it’s a trump card.”

Winger bolstered his position with action. Greenhut reported that Winger mailed letters to the parents of AEA students, “warning that the school might close because of a lawsuit and encouraging them to ‘re-enroll’ their kids in his district schools.”

That was an unnecessary and dishonest disruption to AEA and especially to homes and parents who made a choice on where they want to have their kids educated.

In short, it was a slimy tactic and should be publicly denounced by many. Where are the voices telling “educators” like Winger that he does not have the sovereign cloak to cast over the children of the SCV?

There are multiple points of this commentary. The three primary ones are:

1. Parents deserve choices;

2. Children do deserve the best that honest competition can provide;

3. Taxpayers deserve the best bang for their buck.

The Newhall School District issued a statement that said: “The children of our communities deserve the best education possible.”

We can all agree on that.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety.