Charter schools are public schools run independently of a school district. Two Inspire-affiliated schools are based in San Diego County — Pacific Coast Academy and Cabrillo Point Academy — which together enrolled about 8,500 students last school year.
The tiny Dehesa School District in east San Diego County oversees two Inspire charter schools, Cabrillo Point Academy and Pacific Coast Academy. The district wrote “letters of concern” to both schools, citing “issues that require immediate attention.”
The front entrance of an Inspire office located on the second floor at 14261 Danielson St. in Poway looks quiet on a Tuesday evening. This is where the Pacific Coast Academy Inspire charter school holds its board meetings, according to its website. Copy Link URL Copied!
An Inspire-affiliated charter school is suing its parent corporation, alleging it stole millions of state education dollars from the school’s accounts and that it transferred the school’s money to other entities without the school’s knowledge or permission. An Inspire official says the allegations are false and will be fought in court.
At the beginning of last school year, Inspire schools expected to take in roughly $285 million in state revenue. Inspire’s founder, Herbert “Nick” Nichols, created the Inspire schools through his corporation, Provenance, which was then called Inspire Charter Schools.
An Inspire-affiliated charter school is suing its parent corporation, alleging it stole millions of state education dollars from the school’s accounts and that it transferred the school’s money to other entities without the school’s knowledge or permission.
In the lawsuit, Granite Mountain Charter School , which is based in San Bernardino County, is alleging that its parent corporation, Inspire District Office — also known as Provenance and formerly known as Inspire Charter Schools — moved $70 million in and out of Granite Mountain’s bank account during the last school year.
Eight Inspire schools are currently being audited by the state after several county superintendents requested the audit to investigate potential fraud. The state’s school fiscal agency began work on the audit this year.
The front entrance of an Inspire office located on the second floor at 14261 Danielson St. in Poway looks quiet on a Tuesday evening. This is where the Pacific Coast Academy Inspire charter school holds its board meetings, according to its website.
Granite Mountain became a charter school in January 2019, when it became authorized by the Lucerne Valley Unified School Board. The Lucerne Valley School District has 830 students of its own and more than 8,400 students attending charter schools it has authorized.
Provenance has repeatedly refused requests by the Union-Tribune for its financial information, claiming that it is not a charter management organization. In California, charter management organizations are subject to public transparency laws.
The goal of Spark Online Learning is to provide inquiry-based active learning opportunities and Ignite the love of learning in all students.
Students can connect learning from the ELEVATE Learning (online) to their ELEVATE Community Days (in-person)!
The Inspire District Office was founded by the same man who started the Inspire school network, the original Inspire Charter Schools corporation and multiple Inspire schools — Herbert “Nick” Nichols, who resigned last year.
Now Dehesa is adding to the concerns about Inspire.
The tiny Dehesa School District in east San Diego County oversees two Inspire charter schools, Cabrillo Point Academy and Pacific Coast Academy. The district wrote “letters of concern” to both schools, citing “issues that require immediate attention.”
Thome said one of those unauthorized changes happened when Cabrillo Point Academy changed its name from Inspire Charter School-South in the summer. The school said it did so to “create a clear separation” between the over-arching Inspire corporation and the individual Inspire charter school, according to Thome.
Inspire District Office collects 15 percent of all state tax dollars sent to Inspire schools and it is involved in what may be all of Inspire schools’ operations, Thome said in his letters.
The Inspire network became subject to a state audit investigation for potential fraud after several county superintendents raised issues with their local Inspire schools and requested an audit.
Inspire has been popular among parents, in part because the schools allot $2,600 or more of state dollars to each student, money that parents spend on a list of school-approved vendors with the school’s approval. Some school vendors have sold everything from enrichment classes to ice skating lessons to Disneyland passes.