Twin Rivers shouldn't make its Highlands charter school mess even worse | Opinion

The Twin Rivers Unified School District appears to be on a trajectory to revoke the charter of its most financially troubled schools in the most expensive way possible for all district teachers, students and parents.

Without any comment, district board members on Jan. 13 unanimously rejected a plan recommended by its administrators to reduce the teaching sites of the Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools, which disproportionately serves Afghan adult refugees seeking educational help to transition into the Sacramento economy.

Tuesday, the Twin Rivers board will hold a special meeting to decide the fate of the schools’ charters. The staff recommendation is to keep the schools alive. Will the board reject the advice of management yet again?

Under a new board and management, Highlands is trying to work its way out of an epic financial and management mess created by the previous regime, a situation so bad that state auditors want $180 million of state funds back. Given how Twin Rivers approved the Highlands charter and is supposed to oversee its operations, the district remains potentially on the hook until this quagmire is somehow resolved.

This board didn’t utter a peep as to why it rejected the proposed plan for Highlands to operate at 13 sites in Sacramento. It once had locations throughout the state and about 6,000 students, with attendance now closer to 1,500. The silence isn’t exactly encouraging.

District teachers are breathing down this board’s neck for a new contract, smaller classrooms and higher wages. It’s perfectly understandable if this board is somewhat distracted. But saying no, without stated reason, to part of an incremental cleanup plan suggests that the board wants this problem to simply go away. And it won’t.

The Twin Rivers board in December took the initial steps towards revoking the schools’ two charters, although at least some board members sounded hopeful of a turnaround. If the board follows through without any closure with the state on how much money it gets back, this becomes a district-wide problem.

“Revocation carries significant financial risk for Twin Rivers and the community,” said Jonathan Raymond, the new Highlands executive director who formerly served as superintendent of the Sacramento City Unified School District. “If Highlands is revoked, the outcome could have serious implications for TRUSD’s fiscal stability and for taxpayers—without actually resolving the underlying issues the audit raised.”

Following a local investigation by ABC10, state auditors last year found a veritable smorgasbord of problems. Scores of teachers lacked proper credentials. They didn’t teach all the hours the schools paid for. Attendance records were a mess. With scant evidence that the state got what they paid for out of Highlands for two years, it’s no wonder that auditors want all the money back.

While charter schools throughout California like Highlands can operate far more independently than a traditional district school, Twin Rivers is not absolved from financial responsibility here. The best path for the district appears to be to work with Highlands on a comprehensive cleanup plan, which district management says has actually happened. That way, Highlands stands a far better chance of negotiating some compensation plan with the state that Highlands and the district can actually afford.

Then there is the human cost.

The adult learners at Highlands “are largely invisible to traditional systems,” Raymond said. “Closure would leave thousands without access to English instruction, diploma pathways, workforce training, and support services they rely on to stabilize their lives.”

As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for. Revoking Highlands charter at this stage would run too great a risk of being financial suicide for this district. It would be a strong signal to the state that it isn’t taking its audit seriously. How is that in the interest of anyone who depends on this district?

Tuesday marks a crucial leadership moment for this board and Superintendent Steve Martinez. This is not a moment to make matters worse.

This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 5:00 AM.