How Can a Charter School Operate Without a Legitimate Governing Board?

“A material revision of the provisions of a charter petition may be made only with the approval of the authority that granted the charter.”

- FCMAT

Having already billed itself as the largest charter school in the country, Granada Hills Charter High School (GHCHS) has submitted a charter renewal that would change the school to one that serves Transitional Kindergarten to 12th and add 1,425 students. Unfortunately, the Governing Board that approved this charter petition does not include the type of members outlined in its current charter. In my prepared testimony for the LAUSD School Board, I pointed out that this should invalidate the charter renewal petition:

I’m a little confused as to how Granada made the agenda today because they do not have a legitimate, sitting Governing Board. Without a legitimate Board how, did they submit a charter renewal?

I have provided you the information that shows how their previous charter specifies the makeup of the Board; that includes two teachers, a classified staff member, and an administrator. Sometime between then and now, they decided to change that.

I’ve shown you that their website indicates the current composition of the Governing Board as well as the minutes from a previous meeting indicating how they have replaced all stakeholder representatives with at-large members.

This is a big deal because on the next page you’ll see how they elect, I mean place, each of those members on the Board. The teachers, the classified and the administrator were all elected by the stakeholder groups. By comparison, the at-large members are appointed by the Governing Board.

Without a sitting Board, how did they approve this renewal and expansion?

I have shown you on the third page that a change like this requires a material revision by the LAUSD Board. No such Material Revision was given. They just did it and the Charter School Division looked…