SCHOOL MAY GET AID DESERT SANDS MUST MEET CERTAIN CONDITIONS, AUDIT FINDS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Financially strapped Desert Sands Charter School has a potential attendance count that could make it eligible for funding, but that is subject to the school meeting certain conditions, an audit has found.

A firm hired by the school determined the school's average daily attendance in September and October was 267 but noted deficiencies or ``noncompliance'' in several areas, including its curriculum, special education students and quantifying how much time students spend on school work at home.

``It is important to understand that this is only valid for the period Sept. 3-Nov. 1, 2002, and subject to the conditions being met by the charter ...,'' the audit said. ``We can provide certification only when the charter unconditionally complies with these education codes. We make no guarantees or certification that the ADA will continue at this level for the remainder of the current school year or that compliance shall be maintained.''

The Antelope Valley Union High School District board is scheduled to discuss the audit at its Dec. 11 meeting, district officials said.

Desert Sands officials were hopeful that the audit, completed Nov. 19, would help them secure funding.

``We passed - that means we are available for funding from the high school district,'' president Dante Simi said last week. ``We have a couple of contingencies to do in conjunction with the high school district on curriculum and on special education. When we get all those in order, we'll be able to get certification from the state for state funding.''

But district officials were more cautious in their assessment, saying the attendance figure was still conditional, only valid for a two-month period and subject to conditions being met, and that the audit found problem areas.

``Under recommendations not implemented, these bullets under that title means the audit firm continues to have concerns in those areas. They are significant concerns,'' Assistant Superintendent Jane Maxwell said.

Opened last year and operated out of offices in Lancaster and Palmdale, Desert Sands is a for-profit independent study school whose students include teenagers and adults trying to obtain high school diplomas. Students are given a packet of material to be learned, and they then must complete the work and take a test.

The high board at its Nov. 13 meeting rejected a request for funding from Desert Sands because of concerns over different information contained in two preliminary reports from the audit firm regarding attendance.

The school was seeking its share of funding that the district gets from the state based on property tax revenues collected in the area. The so-called ``taxes in-lieu'' funding is calculated at $1,283 per student, so the funding would amount to $342,561, based on an average daily attendance of 267.

The school at an Oct. 28 meeting had also asked the district for a $200,000 loan, but the board postponed making a decision, pending the final audit.

Desert Sands has not received any state funding for this current school year since the district and Los Angeles County officials rescinded their approvals of the school's attendance reports.

In addition, the school owes the state about $1 million in apportionment funding it received for last school year because it had no allowable attendance.

Opened in 2001, Desert Sands is a for-profit independent study charter school whose students include troubled teenagers and adults trying to obtain a high school diploma. The school's enrollment was reported at more than 1,100 students in October, district officials said.

The firm of Vicenti, Lloyd & Stutzman conducted the latest audit of Desert Sands. The Vicenti firm performed the first audit in July, which identified weaknesses in the school's attendance accounting procedures and areas of noncompliance and provided recommendations for improvement.

The school in October hired the firm in October to do another audit to determine if the school had implemented the recommendations. The district additionally asked the firm to look at whether the school had complied with federal and state special education laws and to provide certification of attendance, the audit report said.

In the area of curriculum, the report said, ``the curriculum samples contained in the 22 student files tested did not appear to be aligned with the new state standards.''

State education law ``specifies that as a condition of apportionment, the charter must certify that its pupils have participated in the state testing programs in the same manner as other pupils attending public schools. This implies that the state adopted curriculum and standards must be employed by the charter and provided to pupils,'' the report said.

Charter school officials told auditors that they are working with the district to implement curriculum aligned with current state standards, the report said.

Auditors said the school was not in compliance with special education laws.

``We found no Individual Education Plan documents for students who previously had an IEP enforcement at their last school attended,'' the report said.

``The practice of the charter school, as confirmed with the charter administration, is to exit the pupils from special education. We found no evidence that an actual IEP meeting was held to exit the pupils from special education with all required parties present,'' the report said. ``The law requires that an IEP meeting be held immediately if progress indicates that program placement and services are not appropriate.''

Another deficiency noted was in the area of claiming apportionment credit by teachers signing and dating records that determine a time value for work done by students.

``The charter has implemented procedures providing the initial and date of the certificated teacher on the work product samples. However, the process is not completed at this time ...,'' the report said. ``The charter school to claim apportionment credit must have contemporaneous records to support the personal judgment by a certificated teacher. The charter administration must implement procedures to ensure that attendance is not claimed until the certificated supervising teacher has in each instance personally determined the apportionment credit.

``The current school year is just under way, which affords the opportunity for some of our recommendations to be implemented now. If implemented appropriately and legally, many of the noncompliance areas can be resolved before the school year ends,'' the report said.