Board to Consider 1st Charter School

The Ojai school board has set a public hearing for tonight to decide the fate of what would be Ventura County’s first charter school, a publicly funded institution largely free from the constraints of the state education code.

Deanna Nakosteen, a former teacher in Ojai, has proposed launching a small school called Discovery Charter School in the city’s downtown. It would begin with about 15 students and later expand, she said.

With small classes, individualized instruction and an emphasis on the fine arts, the school would be modeled after the now-defunct private Discovery School that Nakosteen ran out of her home for seven years.

Under a state charter school law passed in 1992, Nakosteen would get from the state the same level of funding that goes to school districts--about $3,200 a student per year.

She would be able to spend the money as she needs, possibly saving money on overhead by contracting out for services such as school maintenance that school districts normally provide.

And although she would have to meet state rules to hold school the same number of days as public schools, Nakosteen would be free of requirements to allot a minimum amount of time to various subjects.

Instead, she could structure the school days as she liked.

But the Ojai Unified School District would remain legally liable for the school’s finances.

And some school officials have said they are concerned about having a lot of responsibility for a school over which they have little control.

State law allows up to 100 charter schools in California. So far there are about 70, with none in Ventura County.

Following a heated debate two years ago that focused on the shortcomings of public schools, state lawmakers passed the charter school law to give parents more choice in where their children go to school.