St. HOPE officials Monday withdrew their charter petition to open a new middle school on the Sacramento Charter High School campus, citing financial concerns.
They had proposed creating a school, called Oak Park Prep, to serve fifth- through eighth-graders from the Oak Park neighborhood. Oak Park has not had its own middle school for 45 years.
But St. HOPE officials say the state's continued fiscal instability has created a risky environment for opening a school.
Already, St. HOPE is having to make cuts at Sacramento Charter High: Twelve teachers will be laid off at the end of the school year, according to Rick Maya, executive director of St. HOPE Public Schools.
"Knowing and understanding (the state budget crisis), we feel that the most financially responsible thing to do is to postpone the charter," Maya said. "There's just too much uncertainty."
He said officials will revisit the proposal once the state budget is settled and the impact better understood.
"Rest assured, we will be back with a new charter to open a middle school in Oak Park," Maya said.
St. HOPE, the nonprofit organization started by former NBA player and current Sacramento mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson, submitted the charter petition to the Sacramento City Unified School District in March.
The school would not have replaced PS7, the organization's kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school whose older students have been relocated to the Sacramento Charter High campus. St. HOPE officials had proposed splitting the campus among all three programs.
The matter was to be considered at Thursday's school board meeting, but Tom Barentson, the district's deputy superintendent, confirmed it is no longer on the agenda.
Maya said the withdrawal was "absolutely not" related to a recent article in The Bee about how St. HOPE handled an allegation last year that Johnson acted inappropriately with a Sacramento Charter High student.
Sacramento police investigated at the time and found no merit to the allegation.
The Bee reported last month that Johnson's personal attorney and business partner investigated the complaint for the campus before police were notified.
Late last month, district Superintendent Maggie Mejia sent a letter to St. HOPE asking for "a detailed response" to questions raised by the article.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
