$180 million divided by roughly 2,000 students is $90,000 a head. That is how much California’s state auditor found Highlands Community and Technical Schools, an adult-education charter operator in Sacramento, received in public education funds it was not eligible for — what one station called one of the largest charter school debacles in California history. This week, as CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones reports, the school filed for bankruptcy, saying negotiations over repaying the debt had broken down.
Highlands serves about 2,000 adults across six campuses in the Sacramento area and remains open. “Highlands is taking this step to protect our students and preserve the future of our schools,” executive director Jonathan Raymond said in a written statement, adding that reorganization offers “the best opportunity to remain open and continue serving students while we address the disputed financial claims through an orderly, court-supervised process.”
The dispute rests on last year’s audit by the California State Auditor, which found Highlands failed to meet the conditions attached to its funding and did not comply with state law in calculating average daily attendance — the figure that determines how much money a school draws. The audit also faulted Twin Rivers Unified School District for insufficient oversight, and held the state Department of Education and the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to account as well. Highlands’ leaders had said from the start that repaying $180 million would bankrupt the organization and force its campuses to close. The filing converts that prediction into a court record.
The school’s exit strategy runs in parallel. Highlands is awaiting a decision from the Sutter County Board of Education on a petition for a new charter under a new name, California Learning Academy — a bid to relocate after Yuba City Unified School District, where it had hoped to expand, denied its charter request in July. A bankruptcy filing does not erase the state’s claim; it queues it among the creditors. The number to watch is how much of the $180 million California recovers, and whether a school operating under a fresh name in a new county is where the remainder ends up.