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Oasis Charter's fate to be decided next month
HUSD school board waiting on results of audit
Oasis Charter Academy has gotten a stay of execution.
The charter school, which has been operating in the red for four years, was to have its fate decided at Monday's meeting of the Hesperia Unified School District school board. But the board agreed, in a 4-0 decision (board member Bruce Minton was absent), to put off potentially closing down the school for 30 days, once the results of an audit are in.
The Hesperia Road K-12 charter school teaches 147 students and has nine employees, five of them teachers.
Supporters of the school spoke out on Oasis' behalf at the May 5 school board meeting, but the school has been losing money since 2004, when director Cynthia Ferguson of the newly opened school received a charter school loan.
State law requires charter schools spend 80 percent of their revenue on instructional services, benefits and salaries. And Oasis' small student body meant there wasn't enough revenue left over to fully pay back its debts.
The HUSD, as the chartering district, has a legal responsibility to make sure Oasis operates in a financially sound manner.
Oasis just needs a little more time, according to Ferguson.
"At the end of next year, our negative fund balance will be gone," she said earlier this month. Oasis' student body has grown past the 100-student mark, which Ferguson said is the magic number needed for sufficient revenue to make the school's debt payments.
The next regular meeting of the school board will be held on June 9 at the board's usual meeting place in the Education Support Center, 15576 Main Street.
Beau Yarbrough can be reached at 956-7108 or at beau@hesperiastar.com.
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| Funny how Bentley only signs on to badmouth the recall and call people names. |
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| Fed up with bentley - May 27, 2008 08:57:13 PM | Remove Comment |
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| How would you know anyhing about how many people signed the recall? The petitions were never turned in so the numbers could not be verified. The truth is not one vote to recall was recorded and no one even the leaders of the recall know how many valid sigs were collected. |
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| toldyouso - May 27, 2008 09:53:57 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Teacher is absolutely right. Check your facts Bentley. Oh, I forgot, you don't like facts when they don't suit your purpose. |
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| don\'t buy a bentley - May 26, 2008 08:07:29 PM | Remove Comment |
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| I agree with Charter Mom. Fed Up stated incorrectly that the charter students come from within Hesperia/ Hesperia Unified,causing a loss of money to the district. Not True. At the Hesperia charter school that my kids attend, the majority of students come from the cities of Victorville, Adelanto and Apple Valley. Some do come from Barstow, Hesperia, and a few from Helendale. |
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| Charter Parent - May 25, 2008 10:09:29 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Teacher is a flat out liar. No where near that number of people, particularly registered voters who live within the HUSD boundaries, signed the failed recall petitions. |
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| Chris B. - May 25, 2008 09:11:55 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Fed Up, believe me, we have known our schools were in trouble as soon as Pace duped the voters into electing his three puppets. Just remember as many people signed the recall as voted for Black and Ella Lee. If we can make it through the next couple of years without them totally destroying everything, I'm sure the voters will wake up and not vote for the union puppets on the cute yellow school buses again. Maybe then Hesperia district will be able to undo the damage and get back to having a board who actually care about kids, instead of working full time on union hit lists. |
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| teacher - May 23, 2008 01:42:42 PM | Remove Comment |
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| To Fed Up in Hesperia, You are wrong when you say. "Where do those students come from? Hesperia schools!
We are a charter family and the charter students at our school come from Apple Valley,Victorville, Hesperia, Barstow, Fontana, Rancho, and Silverlake. I'm not trying to be mean just give you the real facts from a charter Mom. |
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| Charter Mom - May 23, 2008 06:47:29 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Excuse me but you don't know squat about HUSD and its role in charter schools. Arlene Gluck is in the liaison between the district and the charters. She serves as the watchdog over the charters. Any concerns should be reported to her office. And where did you get the information that Mr. Black is a champion for charter schools. That's something else you don't know squat about. |
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| reality check - May 22, 2008 02:58:10 PM | Remove Comment |
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| Every charter school that gets approved by HUSD causes loss of students for our district. Encore has already bragged about the number of students enrolled with projections of upwards of 700. Where do those students come from? Hesperia Schools. Charter Schools take away from our district. Chris Bentley would rather see hard working Classified employees laid off than to close charter schools who are robbing our district of much needed ADA. Of course is doesn't help that the School Board has Hardy Black who is the Champion of Charter Schools and Contracting Out. Watch Out Hesperia, Your Schools are in TROUBLE! |
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| Fed Up In Hesperia - May 22, 2008 08:50:18 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Why isn't Bentley crying about this. Our School Board has a legal obligation to make sure the school is operating properly. Where is Bentley? |
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| Wheres Bentley - May 22, 2008 07:49:41 AM | Remove Comment |
