Warning to All Public Charter School Parents
We are always at the forefront, protecting you and your children. This message is not intended to alarm, but rather to alert and prepare you. We may be entering another medical freedom battle, and I’m issuing an important warning to all parents of school-age children. This warning comes with an urgent call to action.
When SB277 passed in 2015, it eliminated personal belief exemptions for vaccinations. SB276 later followed, removing nearly all medical exemptions, punishing doctors retroactively, and enacting laws that allow for the revocation of both current and past medical exemptions. What did both of these laws have in common before they passed? Measles hype.
Measles was used as the trigger—amplified and misrepresented—to justify these laws. If you know the true history, you also know there was a serious misrepresentation of the sources behind the so-called "measles outbreaks." This included inflated and inaccurately reported case numbers. Even more concerning, media coverage failed to report that the likely source of these outbreaks may have been the vaccine strain itself, meaning that individuals vaccinated for measles could have been spreading a vaccine-derived strain rather than the wild virus.
Here are the key talking points historically used to push these legislative efforts:
1. Claims of declining vaccination rates and threats to herd immunity
2. Focus on specific schools or counties
3. Fear-mongering around measles
4. Blaming an “unregulated” group or institution
5. Amplifying fears of deadly outbreaks
6. Using all of the above to justify new laws
Why is this important now? Because we are seeing the same pattern emerging again in recent California media coverage.
Current Warning
All public charter school parents, families, and school officials need to be on high alert. Be prepared. One tactic sometimes used by legislators is to add an amendment into an already introduced bill already moving through the legislature—or new legislation could be proposed next year—aimed at tightening vaccination regulations.
Why the concern? Recent articles, such as one in EdSource, highlight a perceived drop in vaccination rates across California. These articles use fear-based rhetoric and suggest California could face “Texas-like outbreaks.”
One quote states:
“Another key trend is that charter schools had lower vaccination rates than traditional public schools—76.41% compared with 92.07% for measles last year...”
Another states:
“These prohibitions make it very difficult for charter school staff to administer the vaccination mandate,” said Eric Premack, founder and CEO of the Charter Schools Development Center in Sacramento.
Increased Regulations, Decline in Enrollment
The narrative is clear: charter schools are being framed as the weak link in herd immunity and vaccination enforcement. But here’s what they fail to mention—every time lawmakers increase regulation, families leave. They exit both the state and the public school system. Just look at the decline in school enrollment (see PERK’s data).
We cannot wait for surprise legislation or hidden amendments. We must act now. And this impacts everyone whether your children attend public school, charter school, private school, or are homeschooled.
When we believe these laws only impact "the other group," we lose.
Call to Action
We must grow our grassroots army and be ready to stand up and fight back. Here's how you can help today:
1. Sign up for PERK’s newsletters. We send actions and alerts when needed.
2. Sign our petition to commit to joining our advocacy action teams and standing up for your rights.
Link to Petition Here
The Bigger Issue
The public’s trust in health regulatory agencies is eroding. These agencies have mandated products for children without liability and without double-blind placebo safety trials. Parents and families are fed up with lawmakers and policymakers who use the vaccine issue to trample on:
Religious freedoms
Personal beliefs
Education Access
Doctor-patient relationships
Medical privacy
All while using coercive tactics and making decisions that appear to benefit corporations more than children.
This is not a charter school problem. This is a failure of government, health agencies, and legislators who have enabled corporate capture at every level—with children as the ultimate sacrifice for profit and power.
Whenever—and however—the next battle comes, stand with PERK, united and ready to fight back.
In solidarity,
Amy Bohn
PERK President