CHARTERS MAY LOSE FUNDING LAUSD PROPOSES TAKING SPECIAL-EDUCATION MONEY.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

Two San Fernando Valley charter schools could lose nearly half of their funding for special-education services under a proposal by the Los Angeles Unified School District, officials said Friday.

District officials propose taking 40 percent of special-education funding from the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center and Fenton Avenue Charter School to pay for districtwide special-education expenses, such as legal and administrative costs.

For the two schools, located in the Northeast Valley, it could mean losing about $600,000 that helps fund exemplary special-education programs for more than 400 students.

``This is totally discriminating against special-education kids in charter schools. This is destroying a special-education program that has worked in the last 10 years,'' said Yvonne Chan, principal of Vaughn in Pacoima.

Joe Lucente, Fenton's executive director, said losing the money might force him to reduce the hours of the school's psychologist and counselor. ``This is an issue on which we are incredibly inflexible. We want to make sure our kids have the resources they deserve.''

Under state law, the district is allowed to levy a tax on charter schools to pay for districtwide special-education programs but doesn't specify a percentage. In the past, the two schools paid the district only when they used its special-education services.

But since then, the district has set up different arrangements with other charter schools, requiring them to pay between 33 percent and 37 percent of their special-education funding each year to cover the district's overhead expenses.

Now, as the district renegotiates the five-year charter renewals for both Fenton and Vaughn, officials want to create a formula that will apply to all charter schools.

An alternative form of public education, charter schools are freed from most state and local education laws in exchange for boosting student performance.

Grace Arnold, who oversees the district's 50-plus charter schools, said officials are working to resolve the dispute. ``We have had very constructive meetings so far. We are hoping to come to a resolution.''

The dispute has put a snag in the schools' quest to renew their charter agreements with the district, which are due to expire June 30. Vaughn and Fenton had hoped to renew their charters by Feb. 25 but the district has put them on hold indefinitely.

While Chan agrees that charters should be treated equally, she said a 40 percent tax is too steep, especially when she has no control over how the money would be spent.

Instead, she proposed that charters advance the district 10 percent of their special-education budget each year as a kind of insurance premium. Under her proposal, at the end of the year, the LAUSD would adjust the amount it levies from charter schools depending on their actual special-education costs.

``The bottom line is the money goes with the kids. It's public dollars. It's not their money.''