Ventura County Grand Jury Oversight of Charter Schools Authorized by Ventura County

Charter schools in the County utilize a variety of procedures to formulate their legally required reports to their authorizing district. Charter school authorizers reported that the following formats are utilized:  The California Charter School Annual Oversight Check List-FCMAT (Ref-14)  VCOE Charter School Reporting Timeline (App-01) Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools 3

Two charter school authorizers in the County reported during interviews the importance of having a representative from the district included on their respective charter school’s governing board.

Six of the 12 County authorized charter schools do not have a representative from their authorizing districts or VCOE on their governing board. (Ref-15)

Charter school authorizers reported during interviews that VCOE does not provide training to district school authorizers but will provide assistance when requested.

A representative of VCOE stated that VCOE has provided training seminars and workshops to charter school staff. Conclusions C-01. The Grand Jury concluded that, while the authorizing districts in the County and VCOE are following state law in reporting fiscal and administrative information, there is a lack of consistency in report monitoring and oversight of charter schools. (FA-01) C-02. The Grand Jury concluded that, while VCOE is providing training opportunities to charter school staff, no training is being offered to the authorizing school districts. (FA-04, FA-05) C-03. The Grand Jury concluded that best practice guidelines for monitoring charter schools by authorizing school districts have been developed by FCMAT and VCOE. These guidelines have not been adopted by all County authorizing districts. (FA-01) C-04. The Grand Jury concluded that a benefit would accrue to each charter school’s operations by having an official representative of the authorizing district or VCOE on its governing board. (FA-02, FA-03) Recommendations R-01. The Grand Jury recommends that VCOE, in conjunction with charter schools and district authorizers, collaborate to review and enhance the current VCOE oversight checklist/timeline utilizing the FCMAT suggested guidelines for oversight. (C-01, C-03) R-02. The Grand Jury recommends that VCOE, in conjunction with charter schools and authorizing districts, develop a consistent, comprehensive and regularly scheduled oversight process for all County charter schools. (C-01, C-03) 4 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools R-03. The Grand Jury recommends that VCOE periodically conduct meetings to be attended by all charter school authorizers in the County. These meetings are to collaborate and provide training, review new education legislation, share best practices and highlight successes. (C-02) R-04. The Grand Jury recommends that each existing charter school’s governing board have at least one official representative from the authorizing district or VCOE. (C-04) R-05. The Grand Jury recommends that charter school authorizing entities within the County require future charter school petitions for authorization to include an agreement that the charter school will have a representative from the authorizing school district and/or VCOE on its governing board. (C-04) Responses Responses Required From: Ventura County Office of Education (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-03, R-04, R-05) Oxnard Union High School District (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-04, R-05) Mesa Union School District (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-04, R-05) Moorpark Unified School District (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-04, R-05) Ojai Unified School District (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-04, R-05) Pleasant Valley School District (C-01, C-02, C-03, C-04) (R-01, R-02, R-04, R-05) Responses Requested From: Meadows Arts and Technology Elementary School (MATES) (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) River Oaks Academy (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Ventura Charter School of Arts and Global Education (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Vista Real Charter High School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Golden Valley Charter School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Ivy Tech Charter School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Valley Oak Charter School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools 5 Architecture, Construction and Engineering (ACE) Charter High School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education (CAPE) (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) University Preparation Charter School at CSU at Channel Islands (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) PEAK Prep Pleasant Valley (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) Bridges Charter School (C-04) (R-01, R-04, R-05) References Ref-01. Charter School Act of 1992 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCo de=EDC&division=4.&title=2.&part=26.8.&chapter=1.&article= Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-02. Ventura County Office of Education. Charter Schools>Charter Schools in Ventura County https://www.vcoe.org/Charter-Schools/Charter-Schools-in-Ventura- County Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-03. Zinshteyn, Mikhail. Understanding California Charter Schools: A Quick Guide. EdSource, July 20, 2017 https://edsource.org/2017/10-things-to-know-about-charter- schools/583984 Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-04. California Department of Education. Charter Schools CalEdFacts- CalEdFacts-CalEdFacts. April 12, 2019 https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ch/cefcharterschools.asp Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-05. Legislative Analyst’s Office. Overview of Charter Schools in California. March 12, 2019 https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/education/2019/Charter-School-Overview- 031219.pdf Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-06. Lambert, Diana. California Charter Schools Facing New Oversight Under Fast Track Legislation. EdSource, February 21, 2019 https://edsource.org/2019/california-charter-schools-facing-new- oversight-under-fast-track-legislation/608963 Accessed April 1, 2020 6 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools Ref-07. LA Times Investigates California Charter School Oversight. NPR Morning Edition, April 5, 2019 https://www.npr.org/2019/04/05/710169500/la-times-investigates- california-charter-school-oversight Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-08. Cano, Ricardo. How a tiny California District sparked calls for a charter crackdown. CALmatters.org, April 8, 2019 https://calmatters.org/education/2019/04/charter-schools-california- far-flung-loophole-acton-newhall/ Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-09. California Teachers Association. Assemblymembers O’Donnell, Mc Carty, Smith, Bonta, Joined by Educators, Administrators, School Boards, and Labor Partners, Intro Bills to Fix Broken Laws Governing Charter Schools, Hurting Students. February 25, 2019 https://www.cta.org/About-CTA/News-Room/Press- Releases/2019/02/02252019.aspx Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-10. Fensterwald, John. Proposed Legislation Would Substantially Curb Growth of California Charter Schools. EdSource, February 26, 2019 https://edsource.org/2019/proposed-legislation-would-substantially- curb-growth-of-california-charter-schools/609087 Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-11. Cano, Ricardo. With New CA Charter School Rules Official, Here’s the Latest on Incoming K-12 Laws. North Coast Journal of Politics, People & Art, October 4, 2019 https://www.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2019/10/04/wit h-new-ca-charter-school-rules-official-heres-the-latest-on-incoming-k- 12-laws Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-12. California AB 1505 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=2019 20200AB1505 Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-13. California AB 1507 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201 920200AB1507Accessed April 1, 2020 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools 7 Ref-14. Charter School Annual Oversight Checklist. Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, California School Information Services, March 2016 https://www.fcmat.org/PublicationsReports/Charter-School-Annual- Oversight-Checklist-revised-final-3-17-2016.pdf Accessed April 1, 2020 Ref-15. Ventura County Charter Schools http://www.matescharter.org/ http://www.riveroakscharter.com/ https://www.venturacharterschool.org/ http://vrchs.org/governing-board/ http://www.goldenvcs.org/ http://valleyoakcharter.org/index.html http://www.ivytechcharterschool.org/ https://www.acecharterhigh.org/ http://www.camarillocharter.org/ https://universitycharterschools.csuci.edu/Page/7 https://peak.virtualpreparatoryacademy.com/ https://www.bridgescharter.org/ Accessed April 1, 2020 Attachments Att-01. VCOE Charter School Reporting Timeline 8 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools Glossary TERM DEFINITION Authorizing A district that approves applications to open new district charter schools, monitors existing charter schools and decides to renew or close charter schools. Charter school Ventura County charter school Charter schools VCOE and authorizing districts authorizers County Ventura County FCMAT Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Attachment 01 VCOE Charter School Reporting Timeline 10 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools 11 This page intentionally blank 12 Oversight of Ventura County Charter Schools