Report 2014-135R Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2014-135R: Magnolia Science Academies: Although the Financial Condition of These Charter Schools Has Improved, Their Financial Controls Still Need to Be Strengthened (Release Date: May 2015)

Recommendation #14 To: Los Angeles Unified School District

To improve its process for considering whether to rescind a charter school's conditionally renewed petition, LAUSD should develop procedures to provide charter schools with a reasonable amount of time for an appropriate response or to potentially remedy concerns.

1-Year Agency Response

The District has revised the Independent Charter School Renewal Petition Application Guide ("Guide") for the 2016-2017 school year which now includes a section addressing "Recommendations of Approval with Conditions." This section provides the following: Recommendations of Approval with Conditions - On rare occasion, the petition review process may culminate in a staff recommendation to the Board of "approval with conditions" of a renewal petition. Staff ordinarily reserves recommendations of approval subject to conditions for those instances in which petitioners cannot satisfy or otherwise have not satisfied one or more legal or policy requirements within the statutorily prescribed time frame for Board action on the charter school petition. In the event that staff makes a determination to recommend approval subject to conditions, the CSD will notify the charter school of the recommendation of approval, specifying the conditions, prior to Board action on the renewal petition. If the Board of Education adopts a staff recommendation of approval with conditions of a renewal petition, staff will monitor the charter school's efforts to satisfy the conditions and endeavor to complete any necessary due diligence and/or other applicable activity or process related to the charter school's fulfillment of the conditions as expeditiously as possible. If and when the charter school does not meet or satisfy the conditions of the approval, at that time staff will submit a recommendation to the Board for its deliberation and decision at a public meeting that the Board rescind the "approval with conditions" of the renewal petition. See page 5 in the "Independent Charter School Renewal Petition Application Guide" (updated May 4, 2016).

The CSD will be disseminating Guide on 05/09/16 to charter school leaders, post the Guide on the District website at http://achieve.lausd.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1825 and will send a mass e-mail to all LAUSD-authorized charter schools.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

The District's 6-month implementation report is as follows:

The Charter Schools Division will be revising the "Independent Charter School Renewal Petition Application Guide" which is updated annually to revise the District's procedures in determining if the school is progressing successfully to renewal and serves as an indicator of the school's status and progress vis-a-vis renewal criteria, and also to include procedures regarding conditional renewals, if the recommendation is necessary, and the procedures to recommend rescission of the conditional renewal to the Board of Education.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The District will strengthen its procedures in determining if the school is progressing successfully to renewal and serves as an indicator of the school's status and progress vis-a-vis renewal criteria, with the goal of minimizing the need for recommending conditional renewals. Procedures handbook will be updated and professional development trainings will be provided to staff. Should it be necessary that the District recommend a conditional renewal, any decision to rescind the conditional renewal will be agendized before the Board of Education at a public meeting for board consideration.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2014-135R

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.