Richmond Charter Academy finances are scrutinized as it applies for renewal 

Later this month, West Contra Costa Unified School District’s board of education plans to decide whether or not to continue granting operating permissions to two Richmond charter schools attended by more than 800 students.

The schools are Richmond Charter Academy, which serves about 300 middle school students, and Leadership Public Schools Richmond (LPS Richmond), home to about 550 high schoolers.

Both schools rank average to above average in most state performance indicators, but district officials and school board members are questioning Richmond Charter’s financial health and governance, with one official saying the school appears to be developing a pattern of deficit spending that is “indicative of financial distress” that could lead to insolvency. 

Oakland school officials have also said the nonprofit that runs Richmond Charter has  created an environment that is “ripe for fraudulent activities.”

WCCUSD is mulling its decision while its enrollment has been declining and local charter school enrollment has been increasing. WCCUSD’s enrollment dropped about 9% from 28,113 to 25,459 between the 2019-2020 and 2023-24 school years, while west county charter school enrollment jumped about 20%, from 6,091 to 7,323.

According to a study of state data by Richmond Confidential, nearly half of WCCUSD’s enrollment loss can be attributed to families choosing charter schools. The decline in enrollment has contributed to WCCUSD’s financial woes, as much of the district’s general fund revenue is based on enrollment.

Like all independent charter schools in California, both Richmond Charter and LPS Richmond are privately operated but publicly funded and overseen. According to California law, charter schools must be granted permission to operate by a public board of education and must periodically apply for a renewal. 

The charter school renewal process changed recently

Richmond Charter and LPS Richmond are similar to most charters in the state, as they received their charters from their local district. WCCUSD hasn’t been able to exert much control over these schools in the last eight years though, due to a change in state law.

Generally, charter schools have to renew their charters every two to seven years, depending on how well they perform in various measures including academic test scores, suspension rates, and graduation rates. Two state bills passed in reaction to the COVID pandemic, however, threw a wrench into the charter renewal timeline, extending the dates by two or three years.

Richmond Charter and LPS Richmond were granted five-year renewals in 2017. Under normal circumstances, the schools would have had to renew in 2022. But due to the new laws, both qualified for three-year extensions. Their performance over the last eight years classifies them as “middle tier” charters, which allows them to apply for another five-year renewal. Of the 10 charter schools based in Richmond and San Pablo, four will be up for renewal over the next two school years: Voices College-Bound Language Academy and Invictus Academy of Richmond in 2026; and Richmond Charter Elementary-Benito Juarez and Summit Public School: Tamalpais in 2027.

Neither can be denied renewals due to their performances on state indicators. According to California law, said an education consultant Douglas Pelton at a recent hearing, middle performing charters can only have their renewals denied if the governing board finds they’re “demonstrably unlikely” to successfully implement their educational programs “due to substantial fiscal or governance factors” or if the school is “not serving all pupils who wish to attend.”

Each school turned in renewal petitions earlier this year, Richmond Charter on Jan. 30, and LPS Richmond on Jan. 13. As boards must make a decision within 90 days of receiving petitions, WCCUSD’s board is required to vote on Richmond Charter’s petition by the end of this month, and LPS Richmond by the middle of the month. (The next regularly scheduled school board meeting is April 16.)

California law also requires that charters be granted hearings where both the school and the board give presentations and the public can comment. The WCCUSD board held Richmond Charter’s renewal hearing on March 26 meeting while LPS Richmond had its hearing in late February. During these hearings, two WCCUSD trustees recuse themselves due to conflicts of interest.

Trustee Cinthia Hernandez recused herself from the Richmond Charter hearing because she was involved in litigation with Amethod Public Schools, the nonprofit that runs the school. Trustee Guadalupe Enllana recused herself from LPS Richmond’s hearing because her child attends that school. Neither trustee plans to vote on the renewal petition in which they have a conflict of interest.

At each hearing, school leaders presented data showing that their school’s academic ratings exceeded those of other public schools in the district. Multiple school board members had questions about financial and managerial issues at Richmond Charter, and WCCUSD school board President Leslie Reckler asked about high suspension rates at LPS Richmond, which suspended four of its 19 — 21% — Black students last school year. This issue is also a challenge for WCCUSD, which last year suspended 12% of its Black students.

Trustees also questioned a lack of diversity at both schools, specifically the high enrollment of Latinx students compared to other races, especially Black students, and under enrollment of students with disabilities. 

According to data presented at the meetings, 91% of Richmond Charter Academy’s students are Latinx and 4% are Black; 96% of LPS Richmond students are Latinx and 2% are Black. Special education students make up about 8% of both schools’ enrollment. These figures are disproportionate to WCCUSD’s demographics, as its latest data shows that about 55% of its non-charter students are Latinx, 12% are Black, and 15% have disabilities.

Richmond Charter has ‘significant’ financial concerns, WCCUSD interim superintendent says

On March 13, WCCUSD’s interim Superintendent Kim Moses sent Amethod’s interim CEO, Adrienne Barnes, a letter regarding fiscal concerns about the school. In the letter, Moses states that the school board has “significant concerns” that Amethod, which oversees Richmond Charter, is unlikely to implement its education plans due to “a deficit recorded on regular financial reports, insufficient documentation regarding how the deficit occurred, and an inadequate plan to remediate the shortfall.”

Moses’s letter outlines how WCCUSD discovered an $880,000 deficit in Richmond Charter’s budget; says that it’s failed to turn in required audits for the last two school years to the district in a timely manner; and that the district has “significant concerns regarding the accuracy and sufficiency” of the schools’ financial projections.

Richmondside emailed a list of questions to Barnes regarding financial matters at Richmond Charter and Amethod, but she didn’t respond as of publication time. During the school board hearing, Barnes told the board that “Amethod has a lot to address.”

“The challenges named in the letter are unacceptable, and our board and leadership team and I take full responsibility for addressing those challenges,” Barnes said.

Barnes, who was hired in the middle of last year, said the nonprofit had “increased its expertise in finance” by bringing in new leadership, including herself, that has experience navigating charter school finance. 

Barnes said that Amethod agreed with the district that “our reporting has been late and incomplete” as its leadership team has had difficulties accessing data from systems the nonprofit has used in prior years, but said that the team was creating a written plan and updated financial projections that show how Richmond Charter can eliminate its deficit by June of next year.

WCCUSD is not the only school district that has pressured Amethod to remediate its financial problems. In February of 2023, the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s charter school coordinator, Neil McChesny, sent Barnes a notice of concern letter that said Richmond Charter “appears to be developing a pattern of deficit spending that is indicative of financial distress” and that “the current budget for the school is unsustainable and even a minor reduction in revenue or a continued pattern of deficit spending could lead to fiscal insolvency.”

Last October, the Oakland Unified School District’s Office of Charter Schools sent Amethod a notice of concern regarding its governance and financial practices. The notice stated that Amethod’s “poor bookkeeping, fiscal guardrails, and oversight has led to an environment ripe for fraudulent activities, and misspent public funds.” 

The notice accused a former Amethod CEO of breaking laws around conflict of interest when Amethod entered into a contract with a company that her husband co-owns. It accused another former CEO of being given a severance package worth more than $100,000 that was not approved by its board, and said it paid contractors tens of thousands of dollars for services it couldn’t prove were provided.

During an Oakland school board meeting last January, Oakland’s then school board president Sam Davis said Amethod has had a “revolving door of top tier leadership.” 

At that meeting Barnes confirmed that Amethod had hired five CEOs in the last five years, including herself. She responded to concerns by pointing out its new leadership, plans to add two new board members, the  institution of new policies such as requiring its board to approve large contracts and salaries, and committing to revise Amethod’s conflict of interest and nepotism policy.

While Richmond Charter and the nonprofit that runs it have been facing pressure, the school’s leadership touted several accomplishments during its WCCUSD presentation. Sarah Carloni, the school’s dean of instruction, presented data showing the school had been increasing its English and language arts test scores, and its students are currently scoring higher than local and state averages. Its math test scores have also been increasing and surpass local school averages. 

Carloni touted strategies that helped them improve, including personal learning support for students during an intervention block and professional development four days a week for teachers “tailored by teacher observation and student performance data.”

Jasmine Landers, the Richmond Charter’s site director, presented data that showed the school’s English learners had outperformed state and local average test scores over the last three years. Landers said that the school has staff and systems that help high priority English learners with translation. Landers also shared data showing the school had low chronic absence and suspension numbers when compared to local schools and the state.

Richmond Charter was positively commended by 16 people at Wednesday’s meeting, including parents, teachers, staff and current and former students.

“My son has grown exponentially since he’s attended [Richmond Charter],” said one parent. “He comes home excited about the things he has learned. There is real teaching going on. Teachers and staff are passionate about helping students grow and learn.”

After Richmond Charter’s presentation, school board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy said that the school has had challenges with diversity in the past and still does.

“I still see that there are issues with diversity,” Gonzalez-Hoy said. “Our schools in west Contra Costa have a larger percentage of African American students and students with special needs.”

Gonzalez-Hoy then asked what the school was doing to recruit these students. 

Barnes told him that Richmond Charter is “open to every student and family that wishes to join us.” Landers said that it was important to engage with the African American families that they already have, “and making sure the quality of services they do have is top-tier.”

“We know that if those families feel connected and included then it’s about the word of mouth,” Landers said. “It’s not fully resolved but it’s something that’s on our radar and we’re actively working towards it.”

LPS Richmond questioned about inclusiveness

LPS Richmond is facing less pressure than Richmond Charter in regards to its charter renewal. Unlike Richmond Charter, WCCUSD has not informed LPS Richmond that it has any concerns with its finances or governance.

During LPS Richmond’s hearing in late February, Leadership Public School CEO Brent Daniels touted the school’s high graduation rate of 97%, which is higher than local and state averages. WCCUSD’s non-charter schools’ graduation rate is 86%, according to the most recent data. 

“These results represent sustained academic progress which reinforce why our renewal is in the best interest for students,” Daniels said.

Data Daniels shared at the hearing showed that English language arts and math test scores were around the state average and have been improving, while progress for English language learners was significantly higher than the state average. 

Daniels said LPS Richmond tracks its students after they graduate and found that since 2014, LPS Richmond’s college attendance rate exceeded that of the state, and the number of students that stayed in college for at least two years exceeded that of other low income schools in the United States.

After the presentation, eight people gave public comments supporting the school, including parents, students, and staff, along with some community members who were not associated with the school.

“After participating in sports, clubs and student government, I have first hand experience of how this school is dedicated to my success and personal growth” said Marisol Cruz, a senior at LPS Richmond. “Whenever I need a teacher’s help, they’re always there to support me, often just by checking in and checking how my day is going. I’m excited about how our school will grow with the renewal of our charter.” 

Cheryl Sudduth, who serves on the West County Wastewater District Board, asked  a question about inclusiveness. 

“I think this school is great. The numbers sound really good,” Sudduth said. “But as a Latina, I still have an issue as a school that is 96% Latino does not sound inclusive. It sounds exclusive. I’d like you to approve the charter but require some outreach to other people in the community so it doesn’t appear to be an exclusive opportunity.”

Reckler asked Daniels if he could “address your demographics” and “specifically how do you recruit African American students?”

Daniels said the school is working with its staff to be “inclusive for all cultures” and that it’s “very mindful about hiring a diverse staff that reflects the population of the community.” He mentioned the Historic Black College tour that LPS Richmond has organized over the last three years.

“We offer programs that when African Americans attend, they can feel supported,” Daniels said. “If a student were to apply and they’re African American, they would be admitted into our school.”

School can appeal charter decisions to county or state

If WCCUSD board denies renewals, schools could appeal decision to county and state boards 

If either schools have their charter renewals denied, it won’t be the first time for the nonprofits that run them. In January, Oakland Unified School District’s board of education denied the charter renewal petition for Oakland Charter High School, which is run by Amethod, due to fiscal and governance concerns. Oakland’s school board also denied the petition of another  Leadership Public Schools, LPS Oakland R&D, due to its low performance on state indicators.

But a denial wouldn’t necessarily mean those schools would have to close. California schools denied charters by local districts can appeal the district’s decision to its county board of education, which can overturn the local district’s decision, sometimes requiring that certain stipulations be met. 

That happened in 2017, when Invictus Academy of Richmond successfully appealed to the Contra Costa County Office of Education board after the district denied that school’s charter renewal. Amethod and Leadership Public Schools are both appealing to Alameda County’s office of education board to keep their Oakland schools open.

But that’s still not the last resort. If a county education board rejects a school’s charter, the school can appeal the decision to the California State Board of Education.

That happened in 2018 and 2019 when the WCCUSD school boards and the Contra Costa County education board rejected the renewal of Richmond’s John Henry High School, which is also run by Amethod, after the school’s administrators were accused of putting children in danger for not properly training teachers to spot and report child abuse. The state education board, however, ruled in favor of its appeal, and it has stayed open.

Appeals aren’t always won. In 2018, Rocketship Public Schools, a nonprofit that runs 23 charter schools , was denied permission to open a school in San Pablo after the WCCUSD board denied its charter. Both the county and state education boards denied its appeals due to concerns over its financial and educational plans.