No Penalty Issued in Gateway Case

The Ventura County superintendent of schools office will not be penalized for its failure to offer state-mandated classroom programs at Gateway Community School, an official said Friday.

State education officials have agreed to waive repayment of $8 million in state funding called into question after auditors found that Gateway’s program was improperly run during a four-year period, county schools Supt. Charles Weis said.

Weis, while pleased with the news, said he was not surprised to be relieved of repayment. “That’s what I said would happen,” he said. “This was a procedural thing. The law changed [and] we didn’t keep up with it.”

Under a law that went into effect in 1990, community schools such as Gateway are required to offer not only home-study courses but the option of receiving instructions at the Camarillo-based school.

But Gateway did not offer so-called seat time until state financial auditors earlier this year found the school was in violation, officials have said. The problem has been corrected, Weis said.

And state education officials agreed that the omission was inadvertent, leading to the waiver, Weis said.

Conservative members of the county Board of Education have used the episode to illustrate what they say is shoddy administration of the programs and schools run by Weis’ office.

Gateway is geared for students who have been expelled from other public schools or are in trouble with the law. Since August, its 450 students have had the option of classroom instruction, Weis said.

“We did the thing you’re supposed to do. We fixed it.”