Legacy may impede new charter official

You'd be hard-pressed to find a person more qualified to assist charter schools than the new director of the charter division for the Los Angeles Unified School District. In recent years, Jose J. Cole-Gutierrez has personally helped dozens of these schools find loans and locations, and aided in myriad other ways, while also lobbying on their behalf before state and local officials.

But that has created thorny conflicts of interest that limit -- at least for a year -- what he could be allowed to do. On the advice of the district's ethics officer, Cole-Gutierrez could have to abstain from dealing in any way with at least 10 charter schools. Case in point: As general manager for the California Charter Schools Assn., Cole-Gutierrez aided a local charter school now being investigated by the school system's inspector general.

He also has preemptively recused himself from negotiations over a contentious lawsuit between his former and his current employer. This litigation pertains to the district's policy on providing classroom space to charter schools. About a dozen charters operate in district-owned property, but most of the rest are pressuring the district to help out more.

Charters are public schools that function under their own board, independent of many rules that govern traditional campuses. L.A. Unified has 128 charter schools, more than any school system in the country. With more than 47,000 students -- close to 7% of the district total -- these schools have become a major thrust of local reform.

This year alone, 26 charter schools opened and 38 others are up for renewal prior to June 30. To oversee this burgeoning reform landscape, L.A. Unified has allocated 27 employees and a budget of nearly $4 million. Overseeing it all, as of this month, is Cole-Gutierrez.

The trade-off with conflicts is worth it, according to his supporters, who characterize his skills as sorely needed and his integrity as beyond dispute.

"Jose's strengths will allow L.A. Unified to partner with charter schools in ways the district wishes to and should," said Brian Bauer, executive director of Granada Hills Charter High School. "He's a collaborator and a sharp person who really looks at issues objectively -- removing personality without striking the humanity from the conversation."

Among some senior district officials, however, there are misgivings.