Half a dozen San Fernando Valley schools have added themselves to a growing list of campuses asking to secede from Los Angeles Unified, presenting charter plans during a public hearing Tuesday.
The schools are seeking status under a hybrid model of "affiliated" charters, allowing them to essentially keep one foot in the district and one out.
"This is the best of all worlds ... almost too good to be true," said Mary O'Neil, a third-grade teacher at Calabash Elementary, one of the Valley schools seeking to become affiliated charters by next year.
A reform model unique to LAUSD, affiliated charter schools are given freedom from some district mandates, allowing them to design their own academic programs, curriculum and schedule.
But in sharp contrast to independent charter schools, affiliated charters continue to receive services from the district, while their teachers and staff continue to work under existing district labor contracts.
District officials said the hybrid model was created to grant LAUSD schools more flexibility while keeping them in the "family."
"This is a way for us to say `Hey, let's allow you to try some innovations while working
within the law as a way to hopefully gain some effective practices,"' said Jose Cole Gutierrez, executive director of LAUSD's charter school division.Under an agreement brokered by LAUSD, the district continues to receive most of the state funding that belongs to the affiliated charters. The district uses this money to pay for major expenses like teacher and administrator salaries.
Some spending freedom However, the affiliated charters get to spend state grant funding as they best see fit. And because they are seen as charter schools by the state, few mandates are placed on how the money can be spent.
Six Valley schools sought affiliated charter status during Tuesday's hearing, in addition to two other Valley schools whose hearings were held last month.
Schools that go to charter status have to give up eligibility for several state and federal grants, which are largely targeted toward minority and low-income students.
Many suburban schools, however, already don't qualify for those grants, so don't give up anything by seeking charter status. But they gain access to a state charter school block grant, about $400 per student. So an average elementary school of 600 students can gain about $240,000 in additional funds by converting to charter status.
For many schools, this funding has become more attractive as budget cuts continue to reduce their resources.
Programs saved at Colfax
Such funding incentives helped prompt Colfax Elementary School to convert to an affiliated charter in 2008, after being a traditional LAUSD school for 50 years.
Susanna Gomez, the principal at Colfax, said the conversion has allowed the school to invest in performing arts, technology, agriculture and science programs that would have been cut had the school stayed a traditional campus.
Free from district mandates, Colfax has implemented unique academic programs, like using synthesizers to teach students math and a campus farm to teach science.
"There was a bit of a fear factor at first because no one knew what being an affiliated charter meant," Gomez said.
"But the word has gotten out and other schools are following suit because ... well, why wouldn't you? ... It's the best of both worlds."
While LAUSD has had affiliated charters for more than a decade, interest in the reform model has soared over the last two years, especially in the San Fernando Valley.
Following Colfax's conversion, Carpenter Avenue Elementary in Studio City converted to an affiliated charter in 2010.
And this year eight other schools have submitted plans to convert by next year: Beckford, Calabash, Pomelo, Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks and Welby Way elementary schools, Hale Middle School and Sylmar High.
Charter model gains momentum
Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association, said the increased interest should be viewed as evidence that charter schools are being embraced by wider swaths of the community.
"We're happy educators across the state are recognizing the charter model is an effective, common sense reform to be pursued in many forms," Wallace said.
But the charter school advocacy group does not encourage the growth of affiliated charters.
"We feel they don't have the necessary autonomies needed to ensure student success."
Wallace said those flexibilities include receiving all funding directly from the state to grant the school full independence. He said it is also essential for charters to be free from lengthy collective bargaining agreements.
"I am not saying that we don't support collective bargaining, but the wholesale adoption of an agreement reached by the district doesn't allow the school to create its own point of view."
Wallace also cautioned schools about deciding to convert to charter status based on a need for more resources since state funding for charter schools can be very unpredictable and vulnerable during times of state budget cuts.
Concern over conversions
Anecdotally, Wallace also said some schools that start out as semi-autonomous charter campuses eventually realize that they will have more freedom and chances for success by becoming fully independent. At LAUSD, two affiliated charter schools - Palisades High and High Tech High in Van Nuys - have eventually converted to independent charters.
Some LAUSD officials also wonder about the long-term ramifications of such a rapid increase in affiliated charter conversions at the district.
"In the eyes of the state these schools are not district schools," said Yumi Takahasi, LAUSD's budget director.
Takahasi said in the short term affiliated charters don't have a significant financial impact on the cash-strapped district, but long-term impacts are unknown.
"If certain funding formulas change, and must be based on the district's enrollment, the district could lose money ... our creation of affiliated charters could disadvantage us even further in the future."
Sara Spraker Joanna Krupa Shania Twain Kelly Rowland Daniella Alonso
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