CHARTER OPERATOR MAY GET OWN SAY.

Byline: NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN Staff Writer

Inspired by a brother who dropped out of high school and died young of a drug overdose, Steve Barr devoted himself to creating schools that educate teens in a nurturing environment.

Now the founder of the successful Green Dot Public Schools is on the verge of a major breakthrough that could make him the king of Los Angeles charter schools.

On Wednesday, the state Board of Education is poised to vote on giving Green Dot the authority to create independent charter schools without having to first get approval from local school districts.

It would mark the first time a charter operator in Los Angeles won that power, and only the second time in California.

``It's just insurance. We will exhaust all efforts to work with the district but just in case we have this in our hip pocket to use,'' Barr said Monday.

``We're really trying to figure out how to take research and development (at charters), couple it with political will and create systematic improvement. We're not going to create a district with 1,000 charter schools.

``The goal is for all LAUSD schools to have the basic tenets we know work and eliminate the need for charters.''

Without having to fight his way through the bureaucratic and political obstacles of Los Angeles Unified, Barr hopes to demonstrate what works in public schools and spark citywide school reform.

Despite having approved more than 100 charters -- more than any school district in the nation -- Los Angeles Unified and officials with its teachers union have become increasingly vocal about controlling the growth of charters, even looking into legislation that would allow them to limit the number of charters.

Charter schools get their money directly from the state, effectively reducing the amount of money the district gets.

Currently, a California school district can reject a charter application only if it feels the plan lacks fiscal viability or the operators show an inability to carry it out.

Obstacles

But obstacles can be put in the way of charter operators. Barr appealed a rejection by the Inglewood Unified School District, only to ultimately receive approval.

Ben Golombek, a spokesman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said charters are an important element in school-reform efforts.

``The mayor believes charters have been proven incubators for results and innovation in some of our city's most economically depressed neighborhoods.''

School board member Jon Lauritzen, who unsuccessfully proposed in March a one-year moratorium on charter applications, said Green Dot has a proven record of achievement in the LAUSD and the district would not be diminished by the authority, if it were granted.

``The biggest problem we would have is they could locate them virtually anywhere, but they pretty much have that authority now,'' Lauritzen said. ``The question is whether they would work with us on where they're located.''

But Barr's success in organizing parents to turn troubled Jefferson High into a cluster of charters -- despite resistance from the district and teachers union -- established him as a force to be reckoned with.

``(United Teachers Los Angeles) fought with everything they had and the parents rose up,'' Barr said. ``I think that'll happen all across the city and when we get the middle class to move in this direction, I think it'll move this thing a lot faster.

``It will be a further threat to LAUSD's power so hopefully one day in the future we're collaborating not only in failing schools but middle-class ones as well.''

UTLA President A.J. Duffy said the move by the state would be a ``bad mistake.'' Green Dot teachers are unionized, but are not members of UTLA.

Citing a recent Rand Corp. report, Duffy maintains that charters keep pace academically with traditional schools. The answer is to fund public schools at a higher level.

``I think it's time for a cap on the number of charters and the amount of money that go to charters because it will continue to drain money from the public coffers,'' Duffy said.

If the state should grant Barr's group chartering authority, it would be a significant move, but would likely not lead to an explosion of charter operators seeking this type of authority, said Caprice Young, a former LAUSD board member who now heads the California Charter Schools Association.

Set the bar high

The state board has set a very high bar for granting the authority, she explained, and there aren't many groups with that capacity.

``Getting a statewide charter is a statement by the state that what you are doing is outstanding and merits replication. They're telling everyone in the education community that Green Dot schools ought to be replicated and are models for the public school community,'' Young said.

``They're serving the inner city and showing that every single kid can go to college and can achieve.''

Barr said his formula is just common sense: keeping campuses under 500 students, getting parents involved, having high expectations, paying teachers more and giving parents, principals and teachers control over budget and curriculum at the school-site level.

Those are the same goals his newly formed Los Angeles Parents Union will demand from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

``There's a culture in big schools that's really rough,'' he said, recalling his brother Michael's experience.

`Mean places'

Public high schools are mean places and I wanted to create the alternative to that -- high schools where we find what's special in each kid. The biggest thing we offer is we believe in them, and we offer schools small enough to get to know each kid individually, and when they walk in, we give them the tools they need.

``The problem at L.A. Unified is these kids go to the ninth grade, the bar is lifted higher and they're humiliated on a daily basis and they drop out.''

If the state Board of Education gives Barr authority to open charters, it could spark a dialogue on creating multiple authorizers and giving those who want to open charters more options in seeking approvals, said Penny Wohlstetter, a professor at the University of Southern California and a co-director of its Center on Educational Governance.

``Maybe this is getting us one step closer on a serious discussion of multiple authorizers, since in other states there are more opportunities for creators of charters to seek out opportunities.''

For example, in states such as Michigan, state colleges and universities are also authorized to approve charter applications, giving those who want to open the schools more alternatives.

Barr's goal is not just to focus on inner-city schools, but campuses that serve middle-class neighborhoods such as in the San Fernando Valley.

``These kids are going to come back to Los Angeles with their diplomas and start businesses, be political leaders, make changes and infuse a lot of money in their communities,'' he said. ``That's better than waiting for gentrification or liberals like myself to change our neighborhoods.''

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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