Charter Schools Division

  • About the Charter Schools Division

    The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest school district, and the largest charter school district authorizer in the nation. 

    The Charter Schools Act of 1992 is the legislation that gave origin to charter schools in California and provides the framework for the authorization and oversight of charter schools.  The LAUSD Board of Education, exclusively, holds the power and authority to approve or deny a charter.

    The Charter Schools Division (CSD) is an office of the District that plays a lead role in overseeing existing charter schools and analyzing renewal petitions, among other important duties pursuant to applicable law and District policy.  

  • Our Vision, Mission, and Values    values image

    VISION
    Los Angeles Unified will be the premier public school district by eliminating educational inequities to graduate ALL students ready for the world – to thrive in college, career, and life.
     
    MISSION 
    The LAUSD Charter Schools Division fosters high quality educational opportunities and outcomes for students in the greater Los Angeles community through exemplary charter public school authorizing, oversight, and sharing of promising practices so that all students maximize their potential.
     
    OUR CORE VALUES
    We believe that our success depends on:
    • Making decisions that put the interests of students first.
    • Serving with high expectations, integrity, professionalism, and commitment.
    • Employing authentic, responsive, and effective leadership and teamwork.
    • Continuously learning as a dynamic organization.
    • Building and sustaining a healthy workplace culture where high performance, diversity, and creativity thrive.
    • Developing productive relationships with our charter schools and all stakeholders.

  • Message from the Director

     
    Director José Cole-Gutiérrez

    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 important duties.

    Please see our Charter School Directory to view the entire list of LAUSD-authorized charter schools, and, for your quick reference, the CSD staff member assigned to each school for oversight purposes.  Please also visit the Charter Schools Information Clearinghouse to access academic performance data and other key information for each LAUSD-authorized charter school.

    Again, thank you for visiting our site.

    Sincerely,


    José Cole-Gutiérrez,
    Director
     

  • CSD Leadership

    Director, José  J. Cole-Gutiérrez 
    Administrative Coordinator, Marla Willmott
    Charter Schools Fiscal Administrator, Lillian L. Lee