On behalf of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Charter Schools Division, welcome to our website! We hope it serves as a center of helpful and reliable information about our diverse portfolio of charter schools and the work our office does to ensure every child has access to a safe, high quality education. The information included is designed to give you an overview and help understand our role in reviewing new charter school petitions, overseeing existing charter schools, analyzing renewal petitions, and sharing promising practices, among other very important items.

Since approval of its first charter school in 1993, LAUSD has become the largest district charter school authorizer in the nation, with about 250 independent and affiliated charter schools serving over 130,000 students. As stated in our Board of Education's Policy on Charter School Authorizing, “Charter schools are valuable partners and viable choices among the District’s robust set of educational options. Accordingly, the Board of Education views charter schools as an integral method of achieving its vision and mission” Moreover, as the Charter Schools Division, we work to ensure that charter schools have both the autonomy which the California Charter Schools Act provides and the public accountability for which charter schools are responsible.

Our District’s highest priority is that “All Youth Achieve.” Our team of dedicated professionals passionately serves thousands of youth, families, and the public at large so that every student is able to maximize his/her potential. We do this by helping to ensure charter schools provide academic excellence in a safe learning environment for all children who choose to attend. We invite you to contact our staff with any questions you might have. If you have a matter pertaining to a particular school, please feel free to contact the assigned administrator from our team listed on the School Directory.

Thank you for your partnership so that all youth achieve.

Sincerely,

José Cole-Gutiérrez,
Director