Charter School Accuses Board of Reneging on Deal : Funding: The first school of its kind in the Valley says it has received less money than agreed on and it may not be able to meet its payroll.

Calling a $202,000 monthly payment from the Los Angeles school district inadequate, the principal of the San Fernando Valley’s first charter school said Friday the school’s parents may refuse to accept it, and the school may be unable to meet its payroll next week.

The comments by Yvonne Chan were the latest development in a running dispute between the school and the Los Angeles Unified School District over money.

The Vaughn Street Elementary School became the first in the Valley to take advantage of a new state law authorizing charter schools--effectively removing itself from most supervision by the district and increasing parent and staff power--but has been skirmishing with district officials ever since over the amount of support the district owes it.

Administrators of the school, which was renamed the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center when it became a charter school earlier this year, contend the district reneged on an agreement to follow advice from the state on the issue.

District officials said no such agreement existed.

At issue now is about $90,000 of the total requested by Vaughn Street for the month of September. On Friday, the district paid the school $202,000.

Chan said that amount will make it impossible for the school to pay its bills, including a payroll due next Thursday. “The parents now are saying we’re not going to accept that amount and that we’re going to turn the check back,” Chan said.

She said she was dismayed by the development because she thought the two sides had settled the matter, which has been brewing since June when the parents, who participate in the school’s governance, returned to the district a check for a sum that they thought was less than could be justified.

“We agreed on it, 15 of us shook hands and embraced and said (that) whatever the state said, we would abide by it,” Chan said.

Acting state Supt. of Public Instruction William D. Dawson, in a letter dated Sept. 21, wrote that “absent a different funding agreement between the district and the charter school” Vaughn should receive about $3,100 per student.

The amount allocated by the district to Vaughn for September is about $2,900 per student.

But Ruben Zacarias, deputy superintendent for the district, said an agreement on the amount of funding was never made. “Our interpretation was that the state board wasn’t definitive,” he said. He said that the district is waiting for a response from the state superintendent to a letter sent last week, requesting clarification of the “caveats and howevers” he believes confuse the agreement.

“We just want it so there’s no room for misinterpretation,” Zacarias said. “It’s just not clear enough for the district to move ahead.”

Chan’s version was: “The state says we should get $3,111, but the district says ‘We don’t like that answer so we want to seek other answers.’ ”

Assemblyman Richard Katz, who helped Vaughn Street parents and staff negotiate their charter status, said the state’s recommendation clearly defines the funding. He called the district’s request for clarification a stall tactic.

“What the school district is doing is trying to blackmail Vaughn Street into accepting a lesser amount. They know Vaughn has to make a payroll, that they can’t operate without money. The threat to the school is ‘either take this check or else.’ ”

“The school district is doing everything in its power to give lip service to reform while destroying charter schools.”

Richard Lee Colvin is a Times staff writer and Susan Byrnes is a special correspondent.