Gorman Learning Centers Shut

Another charter cheat has shuttered its "learning centers." Background here and here.

The Associated Press

Article Launched: 05/30/2007 12:07:24 PM PDT

REDLANDS, Calif.- The financially troubled Gorman Learning Center planned to close all of its campuses by Thursday and move its headquarters to Los Angeles County before September, officials said.

The charter school will continue to counsel students and offer home-schooling support, but intended to shutter the learning centers in seven cities where students used to visit for group-learning sessions, Gorman board President Kim Clark said this week. Those sites are in Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga, Lancaster, Pasadena, Pomona, Saugus and Whittier.

"I'm very pleased with the reconfiguration," Clark said. "I think that it's going to be a more efficient operation and I think we'll emerge as a stronger organization because of it."

The cutback will entail laying off 87 employees, officials said.

The closures came after a state order trimmed 40 percent of the public money the school was anticipating for this year and next.

An audit requested by the Los Angeles County Office of Education found that Gorman had claimed $7.7 million in undeserved state funding over three years.

The school is appealing the audit findings and the funding reduction.

About 2,000 students enrolled in Gorman this year, according to the California Department of Education.