Calls mount for investigation of Inspire charter schools
County superintendents and California’s charter school association have inquired about a state investigation
The California Charter Schools Association has expelled the Inspire home charter school network from its membership and is now calling for a third-party investigation, citing concerns about the network’s operational and governance practices.
At the same time, a group of county superintendents from across the state has asked a state agency to audit Inspire, though the scope of that audit request and the list of superintendents requesting it have not yet been finalized.
Meanwhile, a tiny California school district said it believes an Inspire school it oversees has been violating state law. The district, Winship-Robbins Elementary, said it may shut down the school if it fails to address several concerns that the district has about its finances, academics and organizational practices.
The California Charter Schools Association announced in a statement posted Tuesday on its website that the association and its Member Council have decided to revoke Inspire’s membership. They made that decision based on a review of Inspire that the association had launched in October after hearing concerns from other charter schools.
The association would not elaborate on the concerns raised.
It revoked Inspire’s membership even though Inspire officials cooperated with its review and made changes to address concerns. The association said it believes there are concerns beyond the scope of its own review process.
“Inspire’s team was transparent, cooperative, and willing to make necessary changes to their operational and governance practices,” the association wrote in a statement published Tuesday.
“However, CCSA and the Member Council believe additional examination is needed to strengthen Inspire’s policies and capacity, and ensure all practices meet high standards of excellence.”
In a letter sent to families Wednesday morning, Inspire Deputy Executive Director Kimmi Buzzard blamed the association for not telling Inspire in advance that it might revoke its membership or tell the public about the review of Inspire. Buzzard said Inspire agreed to cooperate with the association’s review under the assurance that the goal would be to assist Inspire, not punish them.
Buzzard also said there were some people on the Member Council who had participated in news stories that were critical about Inspire but who would not recuse themselves from the vote to revoke Inspire’s membership.
Still, Inspire has agreed to have a third-party review, as the association recommended.
“Inspire agreed that the schools could benefit from continued, expert, third party review of our operations and governance structure in light of the many new laws and court decisions altering the charter school landscape,” Buzzard said.
An investigation by The San Diego Union-Tribune in August found that Inspire has grown rapidly in recent years in numbers of schools and students while relying on heavy loan borrowing, consistently posting below-average academic performance and engaging in what several say are questionable organizational practices.
Inspire allots $2,600 or more of public school funds to each student annually to spend on a list of thousands of vendors who sell field trips, academic and extracurricular classes, curriculum and more, including items such as horseback riding lessons and ski passes.
Public scrutiny of Inspire grew after 11 people were criminally indicted in May in relation to another statewide charter network called A3. San Diego County prosecutors accused A3 executives of manipulating enrollment numbers and using charter schools to funnel more than $50 million into their own pockets.
A group of county superintendents and the charter school association have each been in talks with the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team, a state fiscal agency, about a potential investigation of Inspire, said Michael Fine, the team’s CEO.
The charter association has asked the state fiscal team about a review of Inspire that would result in a report with recommendations. Inspire itself would get to determine the scope of that review, Fine said.
The superintendents have put in a request for an audit, which would be based on a set of allegations and whether the state team believes there is evidence of fraud, misappropriation of public funds or other illegal fiscal practices, Fine said. The superintendents would get to determine the scope in that case.
If the superintendents’ request is finalized, the state team would prioritize their request for an audit over a request for a review by the charter association, Fine said.
Notice of concern
Some school districts have recently launched reviews of their own into the Inspire schools that they oversee, in some cases prompted by the Union-Tribune’s reporting and the A3 indictment.
The superintendent of the Winship-Robbins Elementary School District, Dawn Carl, wrote a “notice of concern” to Inspire dated Aug. 21 about an Inspire school that the district oversees called Feather River Charter School, which used to be called Inspire Charter School North.
Charter schools are public schools run independently of school districts and require a school board’s authorization and oversight to operate.
The Winship-Robbins Elementary School District consists of one school that enrolled 118 students last school year in northern California. It has authorized two Inspire schools: Feather River and Winship Community School.
Carl, who has been superintendent for a little more than a year, said she asked the district’s legal team to launch an in-depth review of Inspire North this summer because of the Union-Tribune’s reporting on Inspire and the A3 indictment.
Carl’s August letter outlined myriad concerns about Feather River, including:
- About 79 percent of Inspire North students failed to meet state standards in math and about 60 percent failed to do so in English last year.
- Inspire North changed its name to Feather River Charter this summer without telling Winship-Robbins.
- The nonprofit corporation that runs Feather River is different than the one named in the school’s founding petition.
- Feather River students are being served at a place called Inspire Learning Academy without Winship-Robbins’ authorization. The academy is located outside of Winship-Robbins’ county even though Feather River does not qualify for an out-of-county location under state law.
- Feather River has at least two addresses listed for its location, including one that is the address for a different Inspire school, neither of which are authorized by Winship-Robbins.
- The school reported that it spent more than $7.2 million, or almost a third of its revenue, on “services and other operating expenditures” last school year even though the school said it does not contract with any entities to provide instructional services, except for special education.
Carl told Inspire officials to immediately stop operating at the Inspire Learning Academy location and the two addresses listed for Inspire North’s school location. It was the Placer County Office of Education that had alerted Winship-Robbins about Inspire Learning Academy.
Carl also said in her letter that Feather River took several actions — such as changing its name, operating in multiple locations and switching which corporation operates the school — without notifying Winship-Robbins or requesting a material revision to its charter as required by state law.
Inspire admitted that it failed to file for material revisions and is in the process of addressing the concerns in Carl’s letter, Feather River Principal Jenell Sherman and Winship Community Principal Julie Haycock said in an emailed statement.
“We take responsibility for not filing the appropriate material revisions for the name and governance changes and are working closely with the district staff to rectify this oversight quickly and completely,” the principals said.
The principals said their schools do not operate any facilities anywhere and that Inspire Learning Academy is “completely unaffiliated from us, in spite of the name similarities.”
Winship-Robbins has now requested more than two dozen pieces of documentation or information from Feather River, including proof that all its employees and vendors have cleared criminal background checks; a plan to improve its academic achievement and student enrollment lists that track where students enrolled from and transferred to.
Winship-Robbins originally gave Inspire until Sept. 16 to produce the documentation and to make required changes. Inspire requested a deadline extension, so now it has until Oct. 15 to fulfill the district’s requests, Carl said.
The charter school association and Winship-Robbins are just two of a number of entities that have now raised concerns about Inspire.
The Ventura County Office of Education wrote a notice of violation about Inspire this summer because Inspire was operating unauthorized locations in the county in violation of state law. Inspire disputed that it was illegal but said it has stopped operating at the locations.
Inspire officials tried to open a new school in the Irvine Unified School District this summer but withdrew after the district raised scores of questions about the proposal.
Fresno County’s Westside Elementary School District, which oversees Inspire Charter School Central, said it has requested various documentation from Inspire for an in-depth review that is due to the district by Oct. 1.
Riverside County’s Beaumont Unified School District, which oversees the Inspire school Mission Vista Academy, requested information from the school after reading the Union-Tribune’s reporting, Superintendent Terrence Davis said. It realized that Mission Vista’s enrollment projections exceeded its actual enrollment, a discrepancy the school has since corrected in its financial reports, Davis said.
San Diego County’s Dehesa School District is conducting a special audit of all its charter schools, including two Inspire schools, to scan for potential conflicts of interest, gifting of public funds and more.
