Sacramento charter school stays open as board reverses closure

Jonathan Raymond has been named the new executive director of Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools in Sacramento.

Credit: Courtesy of Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools

A controversial adult charter school in Sacramento will remain open after the county Board of Education reversed a decision by Twin Rivers Unified School District to close the school.

The decision marked the end of a long journey for students and staff of Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools, who had already endured school site closures and staff layoffs after a state audit found the school had improperly collected $180 million in public funding and violated multiple education rules.

Twin Rivers Unified staff cited many of the same problems revealed in the audit for the decision to revoke the school’s charters.

The hundreds of students, staff and community activists, many who arrived via bus to pack Tuesday night’s Sacramento County Board of Education meeting, cheered with jubilation following the board’s decision. 

Nearly 300 supporters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “It’s never too late,” filled multiple rooms at the venue. About 40 of them shared stories of hardship improved by instruction from caring teachers, many explaining that the school helped them to learn to speak English and earn a high school diploma. Some expressed fear that the school’s closure would mean the end of their education.

“I want to get my diploma so I can put it on the wall,” said Sonya Bonnett, a Sacramento mother of four as she shook with emotion. “I’m 68 years old. It’s time for me.”

The charter school network, which serves adult students in its two schools — California Innovative Career Academy and Horizon Community Charter — has become both a lifeline for vulnerable students and a symbol of California’s charter oversight failures.

A difficult decision

The county school board’s decision wasn’t an easy one. 

Lawyers explained that the board was only to consider whether the evidence in the record supported the district’s decision to revoke the schools’ charters. Board members struggled with conflicting testimony from the district and the charter. In the end, they could not agree.

The motion to reverse the revocation of each of the charters passed on a 4-3 vote after a four-hour hearing.

“This vote gives our students and staff the opportunity to continue the important work of rebuilding this institution and delivering on our mission,” Executive Director Jonathan Raymond said in a statement. “Our students deserve stability, support and the opportunity to complete their education. We remain fully committed to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.”

The charter school opened in 2014 with the aim of helping adult students, many formerly incarcerated or new immigrants, to earn a diploma, improve English language skills or learn a trade. Within a decade, it was serving 13,700 students at 50 sites statewide.

Twin Rivers weighing its options

The adult charter school will now return to the oversight of Twin Rivers Unified. The district can appeal the county board’s decision to the California State Board of Education.

“At this time, no decision has been made about whether to pursue an appeal,” said Zenobia Gerald, district spokeswoman, via email. “We’ll be discussing next steps with our Board of Trustees.”

The district did not make a school administrator or board member available for an interview with EdSource.

Twin Rivers Unified, which earned $12.9 million in oversight and facility fees from the charter school between 2019-20 and 2023-24, was criticized in the audit — along with the County Office of Education and the California Department of Education — for not providing adequate oversight to the charter school. 

Even before the audit, Highlands Community Charter had been the subject of investigations and media scrutiny. County school board trustee Heather Davis questioned why the district took so long to take action. 

“Why is Twin Rivers so passionate now, when it was going on for a long time,” she said Tuesday night. “Where were they?”

Raymond takes the helm

Raymond, Sacramento City Unified’s former superintendent, has spent the last 10 months trying to rebuild trust in the charter school. He took its reins in July after the audit became public. He immediately asked the charter school’s board members to step down.

Raymond told EdSource Wednesday that he took the job because the mission of the charter school inspired him. He also saw an opportunity to return to Sacramento and to reestablish old relationships to help the public regain trust in the charter.

Since then, Highlands leaders have revised academic, operational and fiscal policies to bring them into compliance with state law and their charter, according to Raymond. They have hired new school leaders and impaneled three new board members.

Raymond acknowledges that the charter’s former leadership were not good stewards of public funding.

“Look, that was on someone else’s watch,” Raymond said. “It’s not going to be on my watch.”

Moving to Yuba City?

Despite the victory, the work isn’t over. Raymond is looking for a new authorizer — setting his sights on Yuba City Unified in Sutter County.

Raymond has filed a petition with the district, spoken with its leadership and is hopeful that an agreement will be in place by September. The school would operate in both Sutter and Sacramento counties, he said.

“It’s a tight timeline, but it’s doable, and we’re excited about that,” he said.

Sutter County officials approached the charter about bringing their career, technical and adult education programs to their county.

“We’ve realized that a lot of the population we serve — immigrants and refugees — are now moving up to Sutter County because it’s more affordable than Sacramento County,” Raymond said. “And there are also jobs up in Sutter County.”

The school, which was forced to close most of its sites and put students on waiting lists after the audit, will expand again, Raymond said, noting that enrollment has grown by 800 students since January.

No matter where the school lands, Raymond says he has three goals for the near term — build trust and restore integrity; raise operational, professional and academic standards; and make decisions in the best interest of the students.

“As I said to the board,” Raymond said, “my promise was we would become a school that this community and county and our state could be really proud of.”