Ernesto Castillo was a high school senior in 2012 when Inglewood Unified School District went into a fiscal crisis, triggering a state takeover.
The moment came full circle on Thursday for Castillo, now a member of the city’s Board of Education, when the district announced it had cleared a crucial state audit, taking it a step closer to ending a record 14 years under state control.
“We deserve this moment of peace,” Castillo told The LA Local. “The board will have a say, the community will have a say.”
Inglewood Unified has been run by a state-appointed administrator for the last 14 years, with elected school board trustees sidelined to nonvoting advisory roles. It’s the longest such takeover in California’s history.
Now, though, the district could be just a year away from the school board regaining voting power and hiring a superintendent of its own choosing.
The state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, known as FCMAT, published its annual audit report on Thursday, digging into the district’s finances and facility management.
James Morris, the district’s county administrator, said the district met every baseline standard it needed.
“I am the happiest guy in the world,” Morris said. “This community has been working for 14 years. That success belongs to the people who are here and who stuck with this district.”
Morris said the district needs only to clear the same audit next year in order to return voting power to the school board. After that, county education officials could still appoint a fiscal overseer until the district pays off the last of a $29 million state loan. Morris said the final payment is expected in 2034.
Inglewood Unified still has some choppy waters to navigate ahead. The district has seen big changes to its special education department and Inglewood High School leadership. Enrollment is also down.
John Hughes, president of the Inglewood Teacher’s Association, said he expected the positive audit report, and that a lot of hard work had gone into the improvements.
He hesitated, though, to say that everything in the district is headed in the right direction.
“It’s very complicated. What do you measure as progress? FCMAT scores, or returning students to the district?” he asked. “Our ultimate product is the education of students.”
Fre’Drisha Dixon, who leads the community group Stop IUSD School Closures Coalition, said the audit is good news. But she said she won’t believe power is returning to local elected officials until she sees it happen.
“We’ve heard that this was going to happen so many times,” Dixon said. “I need to see it manifest.”
