Twin Rivers Unified board vote puts Highlands Community Charter’s future in jeopardy

A Sacramento-based charter school that sparked calls for reform after a state audit found it misspent $180 million in K-12 funding is one step closer to closing.

The Twin Rivers Unified school board voted Tuesday to hold a public hearing on Dec. 2 on whether it should close Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools. The board will make a decision in January.

The charter school opened in 2014 to help adult students earn a diploma, improve English language skills, or learn a trade. Over the next decade, it grew to more than 50 campuses and added the California Innovation Career Academy, which offers independent study. At its peak, it had a budget of $195 million a year.

On Tuesday night, the boardroom was filled with Highlands students, teachers and supporters, some holding signs reading “stand for second chances” and “stand for immigrants.” During the public comment period, some speakers asked the district trustees to overlook the transgressions of the charter’s former leadership and to give its new leaders a chance to make needed changes.

“If I have that diploma, it’s going to be more possibilities for me to get a better job and provide a better life for my family,” said Oscar Aguilar, a student at the school. “Please, please take this in consideration because we have dreams, and if the Highlands close, my dreams go to the trash.”

His sentiments were repeated by more than 40 speakers that included students, school staff, representatives of community organizations, an Episcopal bishop and a Sacramento County supervisor.

During the meeting, Twin Rivers school board members assured the audience that the vote on the agenda was to issue a “notice of intent to revoke” the school’s charter, not a vote to close it. 

Revocation process began in June

The revocation process began on June 18 — a week before the state audit became public — when the district issued a notice of violation to the school. The charter school had until Sept. 26 to provide evidence it had addressed the violations, which included failing to submit an independent audit, not tracking and meeting required instructional minutes, operating at locations not approved by the district, employing teachers without the appropriate credentials, and paying the leases on properties not used for instruction.

Only the teacher credentialing violation has been fully addressed, said Ryan DiGiulio, chief business official for the school district, on Tuesday.

Jonathan Raymond, Highlands Community Charter executive director, told EdSource on Wednesday that some of the violations mentioned at the meeting had already been resolved and evidence of the corrections submitted to the district, including the termination of a lease for a semi-professional ball field in Marysville. 

He disagrees with the board’s decision to start the clock to close the school, saying charter leaders are working on a material revision of its charter that will be considered by the district in January. 

“You have voted to support a notice of violation with material revisions to cure it,” Raymond told trustees Tuesday. “And staff, your own staff, said they’re not going to happen until January. So how can we have a public hearing in December when we can’t even have a material revision until January? That’s what you just voted on. Tonight is not the night, not the night to close Highlands.”

Raymond, a former Sacramento City Unified superintendent, took the helm of the troubled charter school in June after the state audit was made public. 

Talk of closure raises concern

There is no risk of the charter closing before the end of the school year, according to Raymond. If the school charter is revoked in January, he can appeal the decision to the Sacramento County Office of Education and the California Department of Education, if that appeal fails.

If the charter school wins an appeal, it can continue to operate under its current charter until it expires in 2027, Raymond said. Charter leaders could also ask the Sacramento County education office to authorize a countywide charter, which it would oversee.

“The unintended consequence of that (vote) is I’ve got students that are nervous,” Raymond said. “I’ve got staff that is nervous. I’ve got community members that are nervous, too. ”

Twin Rivers Unified School District trustee Michael Baker told EdSource on Wednesday that the board had no choice but to approve the notice of intent to close and set a December hearing.

“If we didn’t vote on that, then we would have to start back over again, and we’re looking at another year, and with the state breathing down our neck,” he said.

Twin Rivers Unified and other public agencies were criticized in the state audit report for not taking appropriate action after a 2018 Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) report revealed problems with the charter. Since the state audit came out, Baker said legislators have been pressuring district leaders to ensure reforms are being made at the charter school.

“Everyone earned their seat at the table,” Raymond said of the criticism aimed at the district and the charter school. “I’ve been very upfront about the really bad mistakes that were made by Highlands. But Twin Rivers made mistakes too, and they were called out in the audit report.

“It would really behoove us to be working together,” he said.

Twin Rivers is paying the price

As the charter school’s authorizer, Twin Rivers Unified collected $12.9 million in facility fees — 3% of Highlands’ K-12 funding — from the school to provide oversight between the 2019-20 and the 2023-24 school years, according to the audit. The fee, based on student attendance, has been greatly reduced now that student attendance has fallen from 13,700 students to 1,400.

Now, the district does not receive enough funding from the charter to cover all the costs associated with its oversight and legal fees, Baker said. The charter school, which serves students outside the district, is pulling resources from Twin Rivers Unified K-12 students, he said.

Baker acknowledged the district could be on the hook for the $180 million the charter owes the state if the charter is closed. Currently, Highlands Charter School is appealing the audit and trying to negotiate repayment.

“I hope that they’re able to fix it and not be a headache for us anymore, and we can focus on educating kids in the district,” Baker said.

The experience with Highlands Community Charter has changed the way the school deals with charter schools, Baker said. District officials are now more vigilant about where the charters it authorizes are operating and have dedicated more staff on special projects to charter oversight.

“This has not only opened our eyes, it’s opened up the state’s eyes,” he said.