Superintendent of Guideline for the California schools, Jack O'Connell, started an audit more than a year earlier into the fiscal concerns of the Choices for Youth and Opportunities for Learning (OYO) schools. The OYO is a chain of independent research study charter schools within the California schools system, which are independently run however funded by the state.

1. Superintendent of Guideline for the California schools, Jack O'Connell, initiated an audit more than a year ago into
the fiscal issues of the Options for Youth and Opportunities for Learning (OYO) schools. The OYO is a chain of
independent study charter schools within the California schools system, which are independently run however
moneyed by the state.
The OYO California schools serve students who have dropped out of the traditional high schools. They currently
have about 15,000 students in 40 storefront areas across the state. These California schools students do the
majority of their work at home, conference with instructors twice a week. According to state records, trainee
accomplishment test and high school exit examination ratings are above average, as compared to other
alternative high schools within the California schools system. According car donation purple heart
to a Los Angeles Times short article of August 10th, only 11 percent of OYO students finished throughout the
2003-2004 school year. The rest of trainees that left school that year either left, were expelled, or moved to other
schools.
The California schools' audit was performed by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Group, who
concluded their analysis and presented their findings in a report that was launched in August 2006. The audit
points out accounting problems, overpayments by the state, conflicts of interest, nepotism, excessive payment,
and blending personal business concerns with public schools.
The OYO was established and still operated by John and Joan Hall, previous instructors from Hollywood High
School. They have actually fully cooperated with the California schools' audit, however dispute the majority of the
findings.
Some examples from the audit report are:
• Accounting Problems and Overpayments. The Halls count each of their instructors as 1.92 full-time positions.
Their representative, Stevan Allen, mentioned that this is a common practice for charter schools in the California
schools system and is a genuine method for compensating school staff for longer days and year-round schedules.
California schools superintendent O'Connell believes instructors ought to be counted only as one full-time
position each. The auditors disagreed, mentioning that standard California schools teachers spend much less time
working each year than those at OYO. Nevertheless, the auditors believed the 1.92 amount is pumped up. This
example, alone, represent over half of the $57 million overpayment.
Additionally, the report kept in mind several questionable expenses. One example of unrestrained costs, provided
by the Times was an $18,000 personnel celebration held at Disneyland. Allen defended that occasion as an
attempt at relationship building between employee, who are spread across the state. He kept in mind that the
expenses was less than $50 per team member.
• Conflicts of Interest and Mixing Private Business with Public Schools. Besides the charter schools, the Halls own
and operate numerous private organisations that offer materials and services to schools. The Times kept in mind
that the Choices in OYO was the nonprofit part of the setup, with the Opportunities part being for-profit. The
audit calls this practice and setup into question.
• Extreme Settlement. The audit likewise questions the combined wages for the Halls, which is $600,000 yearly. The
report states that it might be extreme for the quantity of time the couple actually works.
• Nepotism. The Halls created a separate charity with $10.8 countless the California schools' funding, called
Pathways in Education. The charity is run by their child, Jamie Hall. Little money has been spent towards education
so far.

2. The Halls compete that they formerly had requested guidance on their operation from the California schools
sometimes, but never ever received any reaction. Thus, they attempted to follow California schools requirements
as best they could with their understanding of the policies. Even O'Connell yielded that none of the cited practices
are unlawful.
The audit suggests the California schools need to attempt to recuperate the $57 million in overpayment from the
OYO. O'Connell has sent out the report to the state's lawyer general's workplace for review and any required
action.