Sacramento charter school agrees to changes in response to investigation. Here’s what they are
Three weeks ahead of its charter renewal vote, St. Hope Public Schools has agreed to personnel changes and new accountability measures in response to concerns levied against them in an audit commissioned by the Sacramento City Unified School District, the organization’s chartering authority.
Earlier this month, The Sacramento Bee reported that Sacramento City Unified’s letter of concern to St. Hope alleged a range of major violations, including conflicts of interests among its top officers, improper use of public funding, deficient accounting processes and the employment of a largely unqualified teaching staff.
The charter school organization was given 30 days to respond to the district’s concerns with a plan to correct, or else compromise its chances for charter renewal on Sept. 19.
In the 1,071 page response sent to the district Aug. 26, St. Hope answers the district’s concerns and concedes many of the recommendations made in the July report. But it also questions Sacramento City Unified and auditor Christy White for what it deemed a “frustrating and disappointing” process, saying that it felt the questions investigated in the audit report could have been answered in the standard annual charter oversight procedure.
Jennings to step down
In a major change, Cassandra Jennings, St. Hope Public Schools board president and CEO of St. Hope’s two other nonprofit entities, will step down from the board effective Sept. 30. New school bylaws will preclude any officer, director or employee of a vendor from serving on the St. Hope Public Schools board in the future.
St. Hope stands by its legal assessment that Jennings’ presence on the board and as a leader for St. Hope Academy and St. Hope Development Company did not present a conflict of interest and is permissible under Government Code 1091. That allows nonprofit officers to serve on public boards without disqualifying their organizations from contracting with those public entities, given that proper procedures (disclosure, abstention from voting on the contract) are followed.
The charter school organization made clear it was not having Jennings step down out of concern that she was behaving inappropriately, but to “reduce the potential appearance of a conflict of interest.”
In the response, St. Hope leaders questioned why Jennings’ dual roles only became of interest to the district in recent months when she was initially sworn in as board president in 2022.
“As our charter authorizer, we believe SCUSD should have raised these concerns long before our charter petitions were filed,” St. Hope’s response states. “SCUSD, particularly the charter school office, was fully aware Ms. Jennings was the SHPS Board Chair and SHA CEO/Executive Director from countless interactions regarding the Sacramento High School and PS7 Elementary campuses, or should have been aware from the regular, monthly submissions SHPS is required to provide to that office.”
Jennings said in an email her decision to step down was rooted in the same motivation to join it in the first place.
“I joined the school board because I care deeply about the success of our scholars and am proud of the meaningful work the teachers and staff are doing to level the playing field for Black, Hispanic and marginalized scholars,” she said. “And that is exactly why I decided to step down from the Board. This is about more than one person — it is about each and every scholar who attends PS7 and Sac High who have access to a high-quality education that sets them up for college and career success. I am committed to continue to volunteer in other ways to win for St. HOPE scholars each and every day.”
Despite concerns outlined in the July report, St. Hope said it will continue its relationship with Kevin Hiestand, who serves as legal counsel to St. Hope Public Schools and a board member of the St. Hope Endowment. The attorney, who once served as St. Hope founder Kevin Johnson’s personal lawyer, was called out in the original audit for his roles possibly creating another conflict of interest. St. Hope disputes that his duties to each organization create any potential for personal gain.
“Mr. Hiestand is involved in these organizations because he believes in their mission,” the response reads. “In public education, we should be celebrating those who are involved in supporting our communities. We should hold those to account who violate the public trust, but there is nothing beyond unspecified concern here.”
In response to concerns that vendor St. Hope Academy’s finances were not being properly managed, the nonprofit hired a new chief financial officer, effective Aug. 26. Jennings confirmed that St. Hope Academy has terminated David Chavez, who was hired in November 2023 while his CPA license was on a three-year probation by the California Board of Accountancy. He has been replaced by Rachel Menaugh.
Bolstered accountability measures
St. Hope Public Schools also plans to put accountability measures in place address concerns that its relationships with St. Hope Academy and St. Hope Development Company are inappropriate.
Auditor Christy White took issue with the extent to which the three entities rely on one another, the lack of competition for the services the nonprofits provide and how the money is (or is not) being accounted for. The auditor found that neither nonprofit provided a detailed justification for the $1.8 million in service agreements charged to St. Hope Public Schools in 2022-23.
In response, St. Hope agreed to issue requests for proposals for the back-office services provided by St. Hope Academy in an attempt to allay concerns that the school was spending its publicly received funds on the best and most cost-effective services it could find. The RFPs will be sent this school year for the 2025-26 school year contracts.
St. Hope Public Schools will also require that St. Hope Academy submits detailed monthly invoices to reflect the hours worked and will develop performance standards to monitor more effectively the vendors’ performance.
Addressing teacher credentialing
One of the biggest concerns expressed in the report concerned St. Hope Public School’s employment of a largely unqualified teaching staff.
The investigation by Sacramento City Unified found that the rates of teachers with appropriate credentials started low and plummeted in recent years. In the 2020-21 school year, about 52% of PS7 teachers held an effective credential and two years later, that number fell to about 35%. Sacramento Charter High saw an even steeper decline, with about 63% in the 2020-21 school year, falling to about 26% by 2022-23.
In response, St. Hope detailed the steps it has taken in recent years to recruit teachers with clear credentials and how it has helped uncredentialed teachers obtain them. These steps include hiring a new human resources manager to focus on supporting credentialing and implementing a new salary schedule that ties base salary to credential type.
The charter school touted its 2024-25 school year as proof of its efforts — this year, 28 of the 55 (43%) teachers PS7 and Sacramento Charter High School employ have effective credentials versus 24 last school year. The number is improving, but St. Hope has a long way to go to meet the district and state averages, which hover at around 83%.
