"Substantial fiscal factors may include..outstanding financial liabilities owed to the District and/or others" - LAUSD Charter School Policy
The community at Orville Wright STEAM Magnet has been informed that they will be evicted from their newly renovated campus next year so that WISH Charter Schools can take possession. While they have been told that the LAUSD Board will vote to make this decision official sometime during the month of February, the item has yet to be put on an agenda. Knowing that this vote will eventually occur, I addressed the board at their February 8, 2022, meeting so that I could educate them about the problems at WISH. The following are my comments:
The WISH charter school in the 2017-18 school year racked up $125,221 in overallocation fees. These fees were assessed because WISH overstated the number of students that they would serve and, therefore, requested more space under PROP-39 than they were entitled to. The next year these fees totaled $196,005. The following year it was $103,099. This totals $424,326. As of January 17, they have not paid anything.
At a September 24, 2019, board meeting both Kelly Gonez and Nick Melvoin stated their commitment to collecting past-due Over Allocation Fees. At this same meeting, Jose Cole-Guitierrez confirmed for the board that charter schools could have their charters revoked for non-payment of these same fees. He also stated that non-payment would fall under "fiscal mismanagement."
LAUSD Charter Policy states that "substantial fiscal factors may include but are not limited to, issues related to the charter school's fiscal solvency, mismanagement of funds, cash flow concerns, or outstanding financial liabilities owed to the District and/or others." This policy specifically states that Prop. 39 over-allocated space reimbursements would fall under this category.
Is the district pursuing any action against WISH or any of the other charter schools that owe a combined $13.7 million dollars? I have asked on multiple occasions and can't seem to get an answer. I'll ask again: Are any of you performing your fiduciary duties to the children of Los Angeles by making sure that these overallocation fees are paid.
It seems strange because WISH owes this money but instead of punishing them or revoking their charter, the district is planning to evict the public school students of Orville Wright STEAM Magnet from their newly-renovated campus so that WISH can be given the facility. That seems to be the complete opposite direction of what we should be doing. The district is rewarding bad behavior.
Past-due fees are not the only problem with WISH. The school's charter renewal was approved even though there was a lack of diversity for English Learners and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students. At the WISH Community Charter School these conditions have not improved:
"Despite the $18 million that charter schools have spent electing school board members, you are meant to represent the 80% of students who attend public schools. That would mean that you represent Wright not WISH. Do the right thing and allow the students of Wright to stay on their campus."
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He is an elected member of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and serves as the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
