Report 2016-141 Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2016-141: Charter Schools: Some School Districts Improperly Authorized and Inadequately Monitored Out‑of‑District Charter Schools (Release Date: October 2017)

Recommendation #14 To: Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District

To ensure compliance with state law, Acton-Agua Dulce Unified should immediately require its charter schools to submit material revisions when they add new locations.

1-Year Agency Response

The Memorandum of Understanding between charter schools and the District, and the District's charter school policy clearly outline when changes to a charter are deemed to be a material revision and may not be made without prior approval by the District's Board. This includes the addition of new locations. (See policy, page 13.) This has been fully implemented and all charters are submitting a material revision when a new location is added or a location change is made.

Implementation Date: approximately Summer 2015.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

Although the district asserts that it implemented this recommendation before the publication of our audit, we noted that the district's MOU with Assurance Learning Academy did not have these requirements at the time of our audit. Accordingly, we note on page 25 of the audit report that Assurance Academy opened a resource center in fiscal year 2014-15 without the prior approval of its authorizing district. However, the district provided an updated charter school policy that includes this language and it also provided copies of recent material revisions for Assurance Learning Academy, which included updates to its operating locations.

6-Month Agency Response

The Memorandum of Understanding between the charter school and AADUSD district charter policy clearly outlines when changes to the charter are deemed to be a material revision and may not be made without prior approval by the District's Superintendent

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

Although Acton-Agua Dulce Unified stated that it fully implemented our recommendation, the district did not provide any new evidence to support its assertion.

60-Day Agency Response

The Memorandum of Understanding between the charter school and AADUSD district clearly outlines when changes to the charter are deemed to be a material revision and may not be made without prior approval by the District's Superintendent. Revisions to the charter considered to be material changes include, changes to location of facilities or lease agreements for the Charter School sites, resource centers, meeting space, or other satellite facility including the opening of a new facility; temporary locations rented for annual student testing purposes shall be exempted from this provision.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

The district asserts that its Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) with its charter schools align with the recommendation. However, the district's MOU with Assurance Learning Academy did not have these requirements at the time of our audit and the district did not provide evidence that its current MOU has such language. Accordingly, we note on page 25 of the audit report that Assurance Academy opened a resource center in fiscal year 2014-15 without the prior approval of its authorizing district.

All Recommendations in 2016-141

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.