CHARTERS TAKE ON LAUSD SEVEN SCHOOLS FIGHTING DISTRICT PLANS TO WITHHOLD $3 MILLION IN STATE MONEY.

Byline: Jennifer Radcliffe Staff Writer

Seven charter schools have joined together to battle the Los Angeles Unified School District, which they say is overcharging them for services and plans to withhold $3 million in state money they need to educate poor students.

The newly formed Coalition of High-Achieving Los Angeles Charter Schools, which includes five campuses in the San Fernando Valley, claim they pay nearly $4 million annually for special education programs, facility maintenance and administrative oversight but aren't receiving that level of services in return.

The group also wants to stop the district from carrying out plans to withhold a total of $3 million in state funding this year - money each school received in 2003 - to help educate minority and disadvantaged students.

``We're going to go to the regular courts and the court of public opinion on this. We're not going to let them take money from our children,'' said Joe Lucente, executive director of the 10-year-old Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace.

``We will do anything and everything in our power to make sure our kids get every cent they deserve.''

District officials point out that state law allows them to charge charter campuses for special education programs, and say LAUSD actually loses money by providing services to the independent campuses.

However, district officials could not immediately provide a detailed accounting of how they spend the $4 million the charters pay annually for special education, administrative oversight and deferred maintenance programs.

Coalition leaders said they have been waiting a year for an itemized list of what the district spends on its members: Fenton; Pacoima Elementary, Montague Academy and Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima; Granada Hills High; Santa Monica Boulevard Elementary in Los Angeles; and Palisades Charter High in the Pacific Palisades.

The coalition also is demanding that LAUSD allow the campuses to continue receiving state money to help educate poor and minority students. The schools received the so-called integration funds in 2003, but the financially strapped district plans to keep the money this year.

Tim Buresh, LAUSD's chief operating officer, said the charters operate independently from the district and so shouldn't expect any of the integration money it receives from the state on a per-pupil basis.

``Let's just say there's some holes in the logic here,'' Buresh said. ``We've only got so much to share here, and this is part of the compromise of being a charter.''

Coalition members say they educate some of Los Angeles Unified's poorest and most diverse student populations and that they deserve a cut of the funds.

``It's not even a money issue, it's a civil rights issue. For my school, it's a social justice issue,'' said Principal Yvonne Chan, whose Vaughn Next Century Learning Center stands to lose $480,000 in desegregation money.

There has been a long history of tension between LAUSD and schools that have converted from traditional to charter campuses. Charters are free from most district rules and requirements, but pay fees for overhead, administration and other costs.

Fenton Avenue, for example, pays the district $189,274 for oversight and $196,212 for special education programs. If also stands to lose $367,775 this year in integration funding - money that Lucente had counted on to expand state-of-the-art virtual classroom systems to the kindergarten and first grades.

``Because of all the money LAUSD is withholding and threatening to take from us, I can't justify doing that,'' he said. ``I think the underlying premise here is that we always put the child first and the district is always getting hung up on adult issues.''

While charters must serve all students without tuition, they are free to extend their calendars, lower their student-teacher ratios and pay their teachers more - as long as they stay within budget.

Many charters have won grants, taken out loans and found other ways to save so they can buy more land, improve their buildings and expand their technology.

Charter leaders say their autonomy has allowed them to adopt innovative teaching techniques that deliver higher academic performance.

``Los Angeles Unified is punishing success and that hurts low-income kids,'' said Gary Larson, spokesman for the California Charter Schools Association. ``They pocket the money and they do nothing in return.''

Test scores released last week for the 2003-04 school year showed that fourth-graders at 20 elementary charter schools outperformed their counterparts at traditional LAUSD campuses.

For example, about 42 percent of charter school fourth-graders and 27 percent of those in traditional schools scored proficient or above on the reading portion of the California Standards Test. The state average was 40 percent.

District leaders say they're trying to work out the kinks of the relatively new educational reform movement.

Board member Julie Korenstein, who has been critical of charter schools in the past, said charter leaders need to bring their concerns to the board - which is exactly what the coalition plans to do.

But board member David Tokofsky said the charters also need to understand they have a place in the system despite their autonomy.

``The district bureaucracy needs to explain and teach the conversion charters that they are not an island unto themselves,'' Tokofsky said. ``The district has to teach them that they just can't take things that are cheaper and leave the district with the things that are more expensive.''

But charter founders say the problem - and any solution - is more complicated.

``It's a power struggle,'' Chan said. ``Either we march together or ... play this card game where we try to trump each other. I don't have the energy to do that, nor do I want to spend energy that way.''

Jennifer Radcliffe, [phone]

jennifer.radcliffe(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Teacher's Assistant Maria Cordero works with a pupil on math at Fenton Avenue Charter School in Lake View Terrace. Fenton and other charters are fighting LAUSD plans to withhold state money.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer