St. Hope Charter Renewal and the Missing Million

No oversight--no problem. From the Sacramento Bee:

While under the management of Sacramento Mayor-elect Kevin Johnson, St. HOPE Public Schools fell more than $1 million behind on required payments to the Sacramento City Unified School District.

St. HOPE started paying the money back in October, and the Sacramento City school board Thursday night voted 5-2 in favor of an agreement that would require it to pay off the remaining $729,742 debt with interest by June 30, 2010.

The money owed is for rent on the Sacramento Charter High School and P.S. 7 elementary school, both leased from the district, and for administrative and special education expenses.

At Thursday night's meeting, school board members questioned why they were notified of the debt only about a month ago.

"I'm very concerned with the leadership of this administration, in terms of why we did not know this earlier," said board member Miguel Navarrette, who nonetheless voted to approve the repayment agreement.

. . . .

Under the agreement approved Thursday, he said, the district will meet with St. HOPE monthly to discuss its finances "until everybody's assured that the money is paid back and they're on stable financial ground."

Critics of St. HOPE say Sac Charter High exerts pressure on lower performing students to leave, resulting in the lower attendance numbers. . . .