CHARTER EFFORTS STALLED NEW UTLA-BACKED BOARD WARY ABOUT SCHOOL REFORM.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

The thriving charter school movement in the Los Angeles Unified School District has stalled since a new school board assumed office in July and a respected leader left the charter office.

Although there are 17 charter applications in the pipeline, none has come up for approval since July. Officials insist they are being processed and some would be reviewed by the board as soon as Tuesday.

Under the old board led by former President Caprice Young, a strong charter advocate, a flood of charter applications was approved, including the groundbreaking one-year charter granted to Granada Hills High School over the objection of Superintendent Roy Romer.

Along with Young's departure, charter applicants lost another strong ally in Grace Arnold, former head of the LAUSD charter schools unit, who retired in June. With her position still vacant, charter operators say they now struggle with a cast of unfamiliar and sometimes hostile administrators.

``There is such an anti-charter schools feeling in general, especially an extreme bias against conversion charter schools now,'' said Joe Lucente, head of Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace, one of the first public schools in the district to gain independence from LAUSD.

``The atmosphere is less than desirable.''

Rudderless and understaffed, the charter office remains politically vulnerable with Romer having publicly denounced Granada Hills and other schools' bids for independence, although he's said he supports startup charters in needy areas.

The current board, with its majority backed by United Teachers Los Angeles, has also expressed misgivings about long-term impacts of the charter movement on the nation's second largest district.

Granada Hills, which is applying to extend its charter next month, is preparing to go to the county Board of Education and even the state board, in the event it's turned down by the district.

``No one is naive enough at this school to think that the district is wanting this charter to succeed,'' said Granada Hills Principal Brian Bauer.

Young, who was recently hired to head a yet-to-be named statewide charter advocacy group, expects to see more and more applicants submitting their charter applications early with the anticipation that the district will turn them down, so they can have sufficient time to go to other authorizers.

``It does remain to be seen whether the new LAUSD board is anti-charter. There is no evidence to confirm that, other than the fact the LAUSD superintendent doesn't fully understand the impact of charter schools,'' Young said.

Board members Mike Lansing and Marlene Canter are considered strong charter supporters. Board member David Tokofsky works for a charter operator, and board member Marguerite LaMotte has a grandchild attending a charter school. Although board member Jon Lauritzen previously called for a moratorium on charters, he has backed away from the proposal and has said he is impressed by Granada Hills. Board President Jose Huizar has said he supports startups but abstained from voting on the Granada charter.

Charter schools are publicly funded campuses that operate independently of school districts and most state regulations with the promise that they raise student achievement. Unlike traditional public schools, they exercise full control over their resources and elect their own school boards to set policies and budgets.

As a result, they have largely escaped drastic cuts, such as a $50 per pupil reduction, made by the district this year to balance its budget. While public schools throughout the district are doing without vital supplies and personnel, Granada Hills has hired more teachers to bring down class size, increased department budgets and bought new computer systems.

``What it really boils down to is, are charters able to accomplish more because they are free from the constraints of the rest of the district or are they doing a better job because they have financial advantages the rest of the district doesn't have?'' said Lauritzen, who represents the West San Fernando Valley.

Lauritzen's views are shared by other board members and the superintendent.

``Before, when the state was wealthy, you could afford to cut a charter loose and let them do their thing. Now when everybody is cutting their budget, it's hard to tell charters they have full right.''

Granada Hills and other conversion charters in the Valley, including 10- year-old Fenton and Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima, are increasingly pressured to give bigger slices of their budgets back to the district to help pay down debts and buttress its faltering financial health.

Recently, the district sent all of its conversion charters a list of proposed fees for information technology support. It also asked them to pay for special education transportation even though the schools already give back to the district 37 percent of their special education budget.

Vaughn was asked to pay for maintenance of a public address system that the district installed but was never functional. Granada Hills was asked to contract for information technology support with the district at a cost of more than a $100,000 a year. But the school found the same services from a private contractor for $33,000.

Furthermore, the district kept hundreds of thousands of dollars that Pacoima Charter Elementary School and Granada Hills High had left over from last year.

``They keep on skimming. The goal is to take chunks away from us, which is never negotiated or come from upfront - things they never asked for before,'' said Yvonne Chan, head of Vaughn Next Century Learning.

Merle Price, deputy superintendent of instructional services, defended the recent stream of financial demands from the district, saying that staffers could not have anticipated ``every issue that will come up.'' He denied charges that the district is trying to make it difficult for conversion charters to stay financially viable.

``I think the superintendent is on the record as stating when schools convert, there are obligations they have to pay a fair share,'' said Price. ``We can't disadvantage the rest of the district by taking money from other schools that are charters for projects that were done for facilities at a conversion charter.''

The board has not yet established coherent policies regarding what is a fair share for conversion charter schools to contribute to the district to pay down long-term debts resulting from workers' compensation liability, facilities improvements and other costs. Conversion charters occupy district school sites. The schools say they are willing to pay their fair share, but the district is unreasonable.

``What is fair is a big issue. Who does the money follow? Is it the students' or is it the district's money?'' said Anita Landecker, executive director of Excellent Education Through Charter Schools, a nonprofit organization that provides charters with technical expertise.

``The potential savings and surplus could be taken back. Therefore, there could be less incentive to be a charter because you would have less flexible use of the money you could save.''

Lucente said determining what is a fair share is impossible because the district has not involved charter operators in discussions. The communication so far, he said, has been one way with the district sending one ultimatum after another via fax.

``The bottom line is we get very little attention and very little thoughtful attention. Things just happen,'' said Lucente.

Helen Gao, [phone]

helen.gao(at)dailynews.com