Pointe Schools stay open, but without some state support

Pointe Schools, a charter network with more than 1,000 students, will stay open — but the charter’s punishment may still plunge it into financial jeopardy.

The charter runs three schools in the north Valley: Pinnacle Pointe Academy, North Pointe Prep and Canyon Pointe Academy.

The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools in September threatened to revoke Pointe’s charter contract after the schools failed to give the AIMS Science test in the spring, a violation of state law.

Jody Johnson, president of Pointe’s corporate board, said the school did not have the capability to give the test on computers. The Arizona Department of Education claimed Pointe requested paper copies of the test too late.

The board on Tuesday approved a settlement agreement that will allow Pointe to stay open, but it will withhold 10 percent of the school’s monthly state funding until Pointe gives AzMERIT and AIMs Science exams to students in the spring without a hitch.

Johnson recently told the board that Pointe’s schools are in the process of making sure they can give the test electronically, including leasing 250 Chromebooks for students.

The settlement didn’t come easy. Charter board members raised questions over Pointe’s corporate board structure. The Pointe board’s only members are Johnson and her husband. Johnson told the board that she is taking steps to add new board members.

“I’m very relieved that the board made the decision that they did,” she said in an interview with

after the board approved the agreement.

Pointe is mired in a variety of problems, including a spat over control: Johnson was ousted as the school’s superintendent last month but is still in command of Pointe’s corporate organization. Richard Gow, executive director of Pointe, now functions as the superintendent.

And this loss of funds could add another problem.

The school reported a $2.3 million net deficit in its last audit. The deficit means its liabilities, like debt and rent, outweigh its assets, like property.

It could signal the school is close to or already in financial free fall, said Curt Cardine, a former charter school executive and now a watchdog with Phoenixbased Grand Canyon Institute.

“Their long-term perspective good,” he said.

The charter board weighed the settlement agreement on Nov. 2, but tabled it after some board members appeared hesitant.

Board Member Erik Twist, an executive with Great Hearts Academy, said in the Nov. 2 meeting that Pointe’s corporate board structure concerned him — Johnson said she and her husband have been its only members for 12 years.

On Tuesday, the board went into a closed-door session to discuss the agreement for more than an hour.

After they emerged, several members said they were still concerned about the Johnsons’ complete control over the corporate board, including how it might affect the organization’s legally-recognized status as a non-profit, known as 501(c)(3) status.

“I have advised a lot of non-profits, and if ever a single 501(c)(3) came to me when I was in private practice and said, ‘By the way, our board of directors is composed of husband and wife and that’s it,’ I would immediately write them a letter saying that they’re in serious peril with the IRS,” Matthew Mason, a member of the board, told Johnson during the meeting.

To that end, the board tacked on a measure to the agreement that requires Pointe to attest that it is following all Internal Revenue Service statutes. The IRS reviews non-profit boards to make sure they include independent members who represent a “broad public interest” to avoid an abuse of funds, according to information on the agency’s website.

Johnson said that Pointe has hired an outside firm to look for new corporate board members. She said she did not know if she and her husband will leave the board, when asked by is not