"In exchange for operational freedom and flexibility, charter schools are subject to higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools."In 1992, the California legislature created charter schools "to stimulate continual improvements in all public schools" through "vigorous competition". In exchange for flexibility, these publicly funded private schools are supposed to "encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods". The law also promises that these schools will be held "accountable for meeting measurable pupil outcomes".
-- - California Charter School Association (CCSA)
While schools can technically have their charters revoked in the middle of a term, this is not something that happens in Los Angeles, which has a Charter School Division headed by Jose' Cole-Gutie'rrez, a former staffer of the California Charter School Association (CCSA). Instead, this evaluation is saved to determine if a charter should be renewed. In the past, the LAUSD has renewed most schools that applied.
KIPP Sol Academy was last renewed for a five-year term on November 15, 2016. This charter should have expired on June 30, 2022 but, thanks to a gift from Gavin Newsom to the Charter School Industry, this was extended to 2025, meaning that the LAUSD School Board would not formally review this school for eight years. If the District had a strong Charter School Division this would not have mattered as any issues with the operation of the school would have been quickly brought to the attention of those elected to ensure accountability. Unfortunately, taxpayers cannot rely on the District to perform this level of oversight.
This franchise of the KIPP nationwide chain has had success in the past and was named a California Distinguished School in 2022. While KIPP's administrators thought this alone was enough to guarantee its charter renewal, recent results have been concerning as the California Dashboard shows that the school is in Orange (low performing) for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The trajectory for both was declining with English scores falling 40.9 points. Given these academic performance shortfalls, the Charter School Division recommended to the School Board that the renewal be denied.
During the renewal discussion, charter shill Nick Melvoin, who in the past has voted to approve other charter schools that were failing academically, parroted the charter operator's talking point that these results represented a one-year setback. This contradicted Cole-Gutie'rrez's statement, which he repeated several times, that academic performance has declined for the past two years.
These failures did not occur in a vacuum. The District noted that "over the past six years, there has been inconsistency and frequent transition in the school's leadership" including four different "School Leaders" over that period. Also noted was that "during the 2022-2023 school year, every member of Sol's leadership team was new to their role, and more than 50% of classroom positions were either vacant or held by teachers in their first year of teaching". This instability represented a major failure by the KIPP management team and likely would affect the ability to implement an academic program successfully.
The real strength of the Charter School Industry is their ability to market their schools even when they are failing. During public comment, one parent declared that, if the District were to shut down Sol, she would not enroll her child in her local school. This is perplexing as Griffith Middle, the Resident Assigned School for the neighborhood, is outperforming the charter her child attends with an upward trajectory:
Even though KIPP had experienced two years of declining performance, the management stated they were "blindsided" by the recommendation to deny them. They urged the Board to overlook the data and permit the school to continue operating. Their main argument was that closing the school would "traumatize" the students.
During public comment, KIPP's lawyer claimed that the law "protects students against the closure of their schools" because doing so would "disrupt their educational journeys". Another speaker warned that a closure "will impact the lives of our students" and would "directly impact our student's mental health." A staffer claimed the recommended action would be a "huge interruption in my students' learning" and "break up the community we have built".
This argument against closure was ironic, considering the chain's decision last year to close three of its schools. While the closure of Sol will force 461 students to look for new schools next year, the shuttering of Pueblo Unido, Generations, and Poder collectively affected 653 students. Some parents at the shuttered schools complained that they "didn't get a warning" about "issues [the schools] were having".
The KIPP chain, which had $15,064,776 of Net Income last year, claimed that low enrollment made them financially unviable. Apparently, money is an acceptable reason to "traumatize" students, but academic failure is not.
Repaying their debt to the Charter School Industry, the three Board Members who were elected with its support voted to ignore the law's requirement that these publicly funded private schools be held to a high academic standard and reject the Charter School Division's recommendation. Fortunately, the majority of Board Members composed of public school supporters stood together and voted to close the school at the end of the school year.
Unsurprisingly, the KIPP Board has already voted to appeal the decision to the unelected Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). The decision is not surprising given that the school operates in a building owned by KIPP and the 2023 audit shows "Operating Lease Liabilities" of $12,268,950. While the state offers generous grants to offset related lease payments, this will go away if the school stops operating and the chain will have to start paying it themselves.
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for public education, particularly for students with special education needs, who serves as the Education Chair for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council. 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.
