Charter schools are growing by leaps and bounds in California, but apparently without the requisite financial oversight the law requires.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General has released an audit of the agency’s division that oversees the burgeoning charter school industry and found that federal grants and fiscal activities were not being properly monitored. The audit, conducted by the education research company WestEd, found “unqualified reviewers performing onsite monitoring” in California. It also reported a lack of oversight and direction for charter schools that had closed and disposed of assets.

WestEd was reviewing the conduct of the Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII), which it said failed to make sure charter-related expenditures met federal disbursement regulations. The California review was part of a larger study that included Arizona and Florida.  

Charter schools receive public money and are often affiliated loosely with school districts, but are largely autonomous in terms of curriculum and policies governing their operation. California charters received $182 million in federal grants between 2008 and 2011. Some of the money is paid directly to charter schools, but much of it is distributed via state education departments.

California has more charter schools than any other state. It added 109 new charters this Fall, bringing its total to 1,065. Student enrollment increased 17%, to 484,000. The Los Angeles Unified School District, alone, has around 200 charters.

Around two dozen charter schools reportedly closed this past year for various reasons, on a par with the previous year.        

–Ken Broder    

To Learn More:

Calif. Sees Record Number of New Charter Schools (by Christina Hoag, Associated Press)

Charter Schools Surpass 1,000 Campuses in California (by Barbara Jones, Los Angeles Daily News)

Audit: US Oversight of Charter School Funds Lax (by Christina Hoag, Associated Press)

Audit of the Office of Innovation and Improvement (U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General) (pdf)