SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two Sacramento area charter schools will be able to continue operations for another five years.
Sacramento’s St. Hope Charter Schools, which operates St. Hope Public School 7 and Sacramento Charter High School, received the news Thursday evening from the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) Board of Trustees.
As ABC10 reported in early August, SCUSD, which is the authorizing district for St. HOPE’s two charter schools, requested a third-party audit of St. HOPE Public Schools. It found concerns surrounding teacher credentials, conflicts of interest and financial mismanagement.
Thursday evening, charter school leaders tried to assure the board that the concerns are being addressed and said they are working on taking care of teacher credentials and have created a plan for financial mismanagement.
“It has only been a couple of months we have gotten that feedback as to what the concerns are, and we have provided some information back,” said St. Hope Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Ruda.
The conflict of interest involved Cassandra Jennings, who served both as the St. Hope Public Schools Board Chair and the CEO of St. Hope Academy, a nonprofit providing services to the charter school through contracts.
Jennings says St. Hope’s attorney’s agree she can do both jobs if proper procedures are followed, but she decided to step down as the board chair. SHPS says Jennings will resign her position as board chair effective Sept. 30
“With good communication, we could have addressed the issues,” Jennings said. “I will still be involved in the St. Hope family and support these scholars in many different ways.”
The board was pleased with what they heard and gave the charter the extension. But elected leaders approved it with conditions, so both parties can work together to fix existing concerns and prevent future issues.
“I really appreciate that there are, at this time, very direct responses to every piece of concern that have been brought forward,” said Tara Jeane, SCUSD Board Member.
“We got a yes, and our schools will continue to operate through 2030, and I am really excited to get back and do more work,” Ruda said.
The SCUSD board provided the following statement:
“The Board had a detailed discussion around specific conditions and moved to approve the renewal petition with the condition to enter into an operational MOU addressing the items discussed."
The five-year charter extension starts on July 1, 2025 and ends on June 30, 2030.
SCUSD says district staff and the charter school will “negotiate a memorandum of understanding addressing the respective rights and obligations of the parties consistent with the authorizer-charter relationship, which shall be approved by the respective governing boards of the parties prior to the commencement of the Charter School’s renewal term on July 1, 2025.”
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