A split Los Angeles Board of Education… rejected the expansion plans of one of the city's leading charter school operators… The unexpected 3-3 vote by the Los Angeles Unified School District board defeated Green Dot Public Schools' application for eight new charters….. The board's seventh member, David Tokofsky, recused himself because he works for Green Dot.

Board members and teachers union allies Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, Jon Lauritzen and Julie Korenstein voted against the charters, saying that despite the promising results Green Dot has produced at its other charters, they remain skeptical of the group's reform model.

Their vote enraged Green Dot founder Steve Barr…. "There is nothing to collaborate on … now we're outsiders…. We've spent hours and days and nights trying to collaborate…. I really have a hard time finding any reason to continue talking with this district."…

Before the vote, a senior district lawyer and the director of L.A. Unified's charter office, Gregory McNair, repeatedly counseled the board to approve the charters. State law is clear, they said, that a school board can reject charters only if they fail to meet one of several criteria. Green Dot, the officials said, met all the criteria.

Barr said he would appeal the board's decision to county education officials who could approve his charter plan. He pledged to open two charters that were previously approved near Locke and said he would continue to push to open others.

Joel Rubin and Adrian G. Uribarri, Los Angeles Times, March 30.