The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education recently passed a resolution that requires funds recouped when charter organizations fall short of enrollment targets be directed back to non-charter host schools.

Approximately one in five charter schools operating within LAUSD’s boundaries share space on campuses with traditional non-charter schools, a process known as co-location. When a co-located charter school over-projects the number of students actually served but continues to occupy the space allocated, the law requires the charter school pay an “over-allocated space” reimbursement to the host district.

Authored by Board Vice President Jackie Goldberg and co-sponsored by Board Members Dr. George J. McKenna III, Scott M. Schmerelson and Nick Melvoin, the Directing Charter School Overallocation Reimbursement Funds to Home Schools resolution directs that over-allocated space reimbursements be returned to the non-charter schools that host the charter schools on their campuses.

“This action is long overdue,” Goldberg said. “For years, many of our schools have been deprived of classrooms and learning spaces because charters overestimated how many classrooms they would need. We are finally collecting the fees incurred as a result of those overestimates and the lion’s share of that money should go directly to the schools that bore the brunt of those errors.”

“Ms. Goldberg and I recently co-sponsored a resolution creating a program to use bond dollars to benefit co-located charters and district schools on joint projects,” Melvoin said. “I am glad to co-sponsor this latest effort to continue alleviating the burdens of co-location and promoting collaboration and harmony between co-located schools.”

The resolution further empowers local leadership councils at host schools to decide how the funds will be spent.

“This is part of our continuing efforts to make sure all dollars are invested in schools,” LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said.

For information, visit lausd.net.