A group of educators responsible for teaching 15,000 California charter students online are finally able to organize.

After years of struggle, the 750 teachers at California's largest network of virtual charter chains, California Virtual Academies (CAVA), are moving ahead with unionization. A ruling on Oct. 30 made by the Public Employment Relations Board formalized plans for the group California Virtual Educators (CVE) to represent CAVA teachers.

The California Teachers Association is CVE's formal bargaining representative.

CAVA tried to block the efforts by declaring that their chain of 11 charter schools weren't operated by a single employer, instead saying that they were a group of separate employers. But the Board found that this wasn't true. All are managed by K12 Inc.

Earlier this year, a group of CAVA teachers came together to file 69 complaints about CAVA with the nine separate school districts where the charter chain has branches.   

The allegations were broad. Some focused on attendance and truancy, and the charter's overall graduation rate of just 47% as opposed to California's average of 80%. Others claimed students were "unfairly being required to pay for Internet access" and that CAVA schools violate federal privacy law by allowing unqualified teachers and staff access to student records including psych reports and free and reduced lunch eligibility.

At the time, CAVA head Katrina Abston told Education Week that the teacher's remarks echoed "prior complaints brought against the California Virtual Academies ... by various labor organizations seeking to represent CAVA certified teachers."

In Los Angeles, a complaint signed by nine CAVA teachers said, "CAVA has experienced poor student performance for many years and evidence shows that its students are not keeping pace with similar students in brick and mortar schools around the state.”

They claimed that the L.A. branch had only graduated 29% of students in academic year 2010-2011.

"As CAVA teachers, we are deeply concerned about our students," the complaint continued. "…Many of our students are not receiving an education that will prepare them for a successful future. Action on the part of CAVA administrators can correct this."

In the San Diego branch's complaint letter, a 30% graduation rate for 2010-2011 was cited.

Virtual charters in California aren't the first to unionize in the state.

Fifteen years ago, Green Dot Public Schools opened. From the start, the charter network had a unionized staff, under the umbrella of CTA affiliate Asociación de Maestros Unidos. Today, they're the largest charter management organization in Los Angeles, with 18 schools and 10,000 students, and more than 500 unionized teachers.

In California, union efforts appear to be spreading. Last year, a charter in Alameda, CA, also unionized. Two more brick-and-mortar schools in Los Angeles did the same: Ivy Academia School and the Apple Academy Public Charter School. San Diego’s Harriet Tubman Village Charter School and Imperial County's Ballington Academy for the Arts and Sciences and Imagine Academy of Arts and Sciences followed suit.

According to the California Teacher's Association, 180 out of approximately 1,100 charter schools in California, or 16%, are now union.

A 2014 study from the Center for Education Reform reported that the percentage of unionized charters across the U.S. had dropped from 12% in 2009 to just 7% in 2012. The percentage today remains at 7%.

Traditionally, unions and charter schools have been at odds. Yet as the charter movement continues to gain popularity, teachers aren't just fighting for better pay. Better oversight, accountability and transparency are all demands that have hovered over charters.

As with CAVA, for many charters, unionization isn't an easy process.

Since March, teachers at the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, a charter network with 27 campuses and 12,000 students scattered across Los Angeles, is currently engaged in a battle for collective representation from United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA).

Last month, the state's public labor relations board ordered management at Alliance not to interfere with organizing efforts via temporary restraining order. Last week, parents of Alliance students told the L.A. Times they felt pressured by Alliance to take sides.

The charter set up a website explaining its opposition. "We respectfully disagree with the assertion that unionization with UTLA would help advance educational opportunities for our students," the site reads. "We do not think being a part of the ongoing antagonism between UTLA and LAUSD and limiting our flexibility and autonomy would be beneficial to our students and our teachers."

And as for CAVA, the virtual charter chain might appeal the new labor board decision to allow union efforts.

"We think that would be a bad idea," the California Virtual Educators responded. "We need to start working together to make changes now. No further delays are acceptable."

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