Crowd rallies behind Orange County School of the Arts amid pay dispute

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- The Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) has been in a legal battle with the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) for years.

"They seem interested in wiping the school off the map," said Teren Shaffer, president & CEO of OCSA.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge recently ruled that the Santa Ana Unified School District may collect over $16 million in equitable contributions from the Orange County School of the Arts to help offset the costs of Santa Ana's special education program for disabled students.

The district says the school failed to pay special education fees over a 17-year span.

The district claims every charter school has to pay, but OCSA says their charter allowed them not to pay.

"We were both relying on the language that was negotiated into a charter, ratified in public board meetings, and now Santa Ana Unified is saying, conveniently, that the language of the charter is not binding," said Shaffer.

Ron Hacker, the chief business official for SAUSD, said money from charter schools is standard for the district.

"We, by law, have to collect these equitable contributions from the charter school. If not, someone could bring a lawsuit against us for a gift of public funds," said Hacker.

A large crowd, almost entirely made up of parents and supporters of the OCSA, gathered at the district's headquarters to fight for the school on Tuesday night.

The school has appealed the decision and says if it's upheld, they would not be able to pay, and the school would be decimated if they had to foot the bill.

"A $20 million invoice is literally life or death. This is bankruptcy, restructuring," said Shaffer.

Hacker pushed back on that claim.

"That is just not true at all, I have personally reviewed their finances; experts have reviewed their finances. We have offered from the get go a 10-year repayment plan - $1.6 million a year is not gonna even come close to bankrupting them," Hacker said.

This comes as the Santa Ana Unified School District has had to lay off hundreds of employees.