Elite charter schools to recoup $1.16M in settlement with Vallejo school district

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Unified School district will compensate Elite Public Schools charter schools for $1.16 million in alleged maintenance fee overcharges after Elite sued the district, according to a settlement agreement announced this week.

Under the agreement, the district will forgo $863,000 of the charter’s facilities use payments over the next four years in compensation for the overcharges. Elite will also receive direct payments of $237,000 from the district for building maintenance.

Elite Public Schools sued the district in March 2022 alleging that the district incorrectly calculated Elite’s portion of facilities costs. In California, school districts are required to provide charter schools with district owned facilities that are adequate for the number of students enrolled. 

When a charter school uses district facilities, the district can charge the charter for a share of the district’s facilities maintenance costs based on the square footage of the facility. 

However, according to the lawsuit, school districts are not able to charge for costs that a charter pays on its own. The district provided Elite with the Widenmann Elementary building in 2019, but the arrangement required the charter to perform its own building and grounds maintenance, some of which had been deferred from prior years.

In addition to requiring Elite to pay for the site’s maintenance costs, the district also charged the charter a facilities fee. That fee was calculated according to the square footage of Elite’s Widenmann facility and a schedule of the district’s facilities costs, which included ongoing maintenance and operation of other school buildings in the district, the lawsuit stated.

Elite claimed that by including costs associated with ongoing maintenance of other district facilities, the district effectively charged Elite for the maintenance and operations costs at Widenmann that the charter was already paying for.

When Elite questioned the arrangement, citing a section of the California education code that excluded building maintenance paid for by the charter, the district rejected that interpretation of the law. Elite sued over the charges, calling for the district to recalculate the fees without the site maintenance costs that Elite was already paying for under the facilities arrangement. 

That recalculation is reflected in the settlement agreement.

"This settlement represents an important milestone in achieving the financial and facilities stability our school needs and deserves,"  Elite Public Schools President Dr. Ramona Bishop said in a statement. “We have navigated this lawsuit with unwavering determination, and this settlement is a testament to our commitment to upholding our principles and defending our rights."

Bishop served as superintendent of the Vallejo school district from 2011 until 2017 when she was fired in a contentious decision by the district board. She then went on to found Elite public schools.

Elite’s petition for a charter was firmly rejected by the school district in 2018 but Elite appealed the decision to the Solano County Board of Education, where it was approved later that year.

“I am excited that this issue is behind us and we can continue to focus on growing our academic offerings for our students and expanding our high school facilities to meet our growing demand,” Bishop said. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify allegations of overcharges.