Sun Valley High will stay open through January, trustees say

By: DARRYN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, December 18, 2007 10:59 PM PST ∞

RAMONA -- Sun Valley Charter High School trustees will announce during tonight's board meeting that the 5-year-old school will remain open until the end of the semester, Jan. 25, despite declining enrollment and budget concerns, Sun Valley board President Helene Radzik said Tuesday.

Radzik said the school won't reopen for the next semester Jan. 28 unless it can get some financial help from a corporate sponsor. She said negotiations with corporations that have expressed an interest in helping the school can't start until after a private financial firm submits its annual audit of the school this month.

Sun Valley has a history of financial problems, and in 2003, Ramona Unified School District Superintendent Peter Schiff recommended that the district revoke the school's charter, citing "a history of fiscal mismanagement and a failure to meet generally accepted accounting principles." However, Ramona Unified trustees voted 4-1 not to revoke the charter, saying they wanted to give the district's sole charter school the chance to succeed at offering an alternative to Ramona High School.

Radzik said the Sun Valley board is in the process of hiring a financial planner to help trustees address what she described as "chronic" budgetary concerns.

"We need a historical analysis of our finances," Radzik said. "What we've done, what we've done wrong, and what we need to do now."

Sun Valley Principal David Tarr declined to comment Tuesday, but Radzik said Tarr was still working on an updated budget to present at tonight's meeting. Radzik declined to say whether the school will end the semester with a deficit.

The small school, housed in a building at 2102 Main St., could be operating on borrowed time.

Schiff said the district "has repeatedly voted to keep (Sun Valley) open and we've given them one chance after another, but we have oversight responsibilities that make us accountable for taxpayer dollars."

Under state law, a charter school operates mostly independent from its sponsoring school district, although the parent district retains ultimate oversight. Additionally, charter schools, like all public schools, rely on funding from the state that is based on student enrollment.

At the beginning of the 2007-08 school year, Sun Valley trustees based their budget on a 140-student enrollment projection. Only about 120 students enrolled, though, resulting in less state funds than administrators anticipated. Since that time, the school has lost at least 30 students -- mostly to home school programs -- over fears that the charter school won't be able to remain open, Radzik said.

"I can't underscore enough how much stress our students are under right now," she said. "We have a dedicated group of parents and teachers just biding their time."

The amount of revenue Sun Valley school lost because of its reduced student population wasn't immediately available from district officials Tuesday.

The Ramona school district has scheduled a special meeting to review the charter's school progress at 9 p.m. Thursday at 720 Ninth St. The Sun Valley board is set to meet at 6 tonight at 2102 Main St.

-- Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com.