School district revokes Highlands charter, a blow to immigrant education options
Moments after Twin Rivers Unified School District board voted to revoke both of Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools’ charters Tuesday night, Executive Director Jonathan Raymond slipped out the door to a nearby conference room to address around 100 students and alumni of the school.
“We’re not giving up, we’re not going away — Highlands is going to live another day,” he said to the crowd. “Get a good night’s sleep. And to all you students: I expect you in class tomorrow.”
Raymond managed to lighten the somber mood with his speech, after which the group erupted in applause and a chant to celebrate the school.
Around 150 current and former students showed up to a special Twin Rivers Unified meeting Tuesday night to advocate for the school board to dismiss their intent to revoke notice. Many held signs — written in English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian — asking the board to “stand with immigrants,” the main population served by Highlands charter schools.
Earlier in the night current and former students asked the board to allow the school to continue operating.
“When my wife, my two children and I arrived in the United States, we had no family, no friends, no financial stability and no support,” former student and Armenian immigrant Arthur Sargsyan said. “We arrived with hope, but hope alone is not enough to survive. Highlands became our lifeline.”
Against the recommendation of district staff, the Twin Rivers Unified School District board voted 6-1 to revoke the schools’ charters, with only trustee Easim Elkarra dissenting. Other trustees offered little commentary on their votes Tuesday night, with two offering short statements on their decisions.
“As trustees we are accountable not only to this organization, but to our entire constituency. So at this time, the concerns raised and the notice of violations have not been relieved to my satisfaction nor that of my constituency,” Board President Christine Jefferson said.
A Twin Rivers Unified spokesperson issued a statement after the conclusion of the meeting.
“While the charter schools have taken some steps to address and correct compliance issues, the Board of Trustees has carefully considered this progress and its impact. They have determined these efforts and future planned actions are not sufficient enough to provide the long-term stability and success students and the community deserve,” the statement reads.
The school will remain operating as Highlands leaders appeal the decision to the Sacramento County Office of Education, which could choose to charter the school through their agency.
If the school were to close, it is unclear where local adult students could turn to get a comparable education.
“Our students are survivors and fighters,” Raymond said. “They have shown extraordinary commitment to their education, and we will continue fighting alongside them with hope for their futures.”
Why Highlands is in trouble
Highlands is a nonprofit which operates both the Highlands Community Charter School, in which students learn in a traditional classroom setting, and the California Innovative Career Academy, offering independent study under Twin Rivers Unified. The school primarily serves immigrant, refugee and returning citizens (people who were previously incarcerated) seeking to complete their high school education and enter the workforce.
Following a local investigation by ABC10, state auditors found in June that Highlands schools received more than $180 million in inappropriate state funds, which the state is seeking to recoup from the charter.
California officials found that the school employed teachers who lacked appropriate credentials, did not meet the requirements for instructional minutes and that leaders made “several questionable financial transactions, including some that violated legal prohibitions against gifts of public funds and conflicts of interest.”
After the release of the audit, the school laid off 630 teachers and administrative staff members who did not hold K-12 teaching credentials. The school’s enrollment plummeted from 12,000 in the 2024-25 school year to 1,440 in fall of 2025, with another 4,000 students on the waitlist.
Also in June, overseer Twin Rivers Unified notified both Highlands charter schools that they were in violation of their charter agreements and the law.
Since the release of the audit, the school has been overhauled. The board resigned shortly after Raymond, a former superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District, took over as executive director.
With a new board and leadership team, the school has taken steps to get back into legal compliance and appeal the amount of money the. state says is owed.
