Exactly one week after the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) membership ratified an agreement that ended their first strike in three decades, the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) met to vote on a resolution calling for a moratorium on charter expansion in the district while the state completes a study assessing their impact on the public system.

That the school board would hold such a vote was one of the terms of the deal, but its outcome was far from certain. After all, this is a body that charter interests just two years ago spent almost $10 million to monopolize.

For a time, that money seemed well spent. The charter backers held a 4-3 majority until a felony conspiracy charge related to his campaign forced school board president Ref Rodriguez to resign in disgrace last summer. But last Tuesday, with a few dozen students and others bussed in by the California Charter Schools Association watching, the remaining six members voted 5-1 in favor of the resolution. For eight to ten months, while the state investigates the issue, there won’t be any new charter schools in the district.