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State agency praises Inglewood school district for being one step closer to regaining control
Michael Fine (right) and Shayleen Harte, representatives with the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), praised the Inglewood Board of Education at their Aug. 5, 2026, meeting for making significant strides to exit state control.
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LaMonica Peters
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The LA Local
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This story first appeared on The LA Local.
The Inglewood Unified School District headquarters erupted in applause Wednesday as auditors praised the district for meeting state requirements for the first time since 2012, moving it one step closer to leaving state control.
Representatives from the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, or FCMAT, presented findings from their audit in February, which showed the school district improved in every category for the last three years that ranged from student achievement to personnel management.
This means the district is expected to exit the first of two phases of receivership next year, according to Michael Fine, FCMAT’s chief executive officer. Entering the final phase means the district can hire a superintendent and the school board will regain voting power while it remains under the guidance of a county trustee who has the authority to override the board’s decisions, if needed, Fine said.
“Everybody is waiting for it to get back to the way it was,” said Margaret Turner-Evans, Area 4 school board trustee. “People need to know about the good things happening in Inglewood.”
The report comes as Inglewood Unified continues its efforts to improve overall. Since 2018, the district has closed nearly half of its schools, is facing declining student enrollment and has to pay a $29 million balance on an emergency loan it received from the state in 2012.
Inglewood’s FCMAT score summary, provided by the district, shows that on a scale of 1 to 10, no district can receive a score lower than four in any category and must have an average score of six or more.
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Courtesy of Inglewood Unified School District
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Inglewood can officially leave receivership after it fully repays the loan and the school board can decide if it wants to do that immediately or continue to make payments, according to Fine.
“I think the community in Inglewood is anxious to have 100% local control and nobody looking over their shoulder, and so the only way to achieve that is to pay it all at once,” Fine said. “So the board will balance that and figure that out.”
Here’s what was in the FCMAT report
During the presentation to the school board, the report covered five key operational areas including pupil achievement, community relations and governance, personnel management, facilities management and financial management.
Shayleen Harte, FCMAT’s deputy executive officer who has worked with Inglewood for the last nine years, commended the district’s progress in three of the five areas while also highlighting where improvements can be made in the areas of facilities and financial management.
With facilities management, some of the areas that need attention include improving the work order system, scheduling preventative maintenance and building internal staff.
In terms of financial management, some of the areas of improvement include eliminating deficit spending, maintaining long-term financial stability and continuing to improve budget monitoring to align with spending.
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Read the full FCMAT report here.
Local coalition believes district’s financial outlook is far from stable
Led by Inglewood mayoral candidate Fre’Drisha Dixon, the Stop IUSD School Closures Coalition held a public meeting via Zoom to review the FCMAT findings on July 30.
The coalition of parents and community members worked unsuccessfully to halt Inglewood school closures last year, but they remain tuned in to what’s happening with the district.
Although the district appears to be exiting receivership based on the scores it received in this year’s FCMAT report, Dixon said Inglewood is far from being financially stable.
“Cash reserves today do not equal long term stability when the district is predicting major deficits,” Dixon said, referring to the continued deficit spending noted in this year’s FCMAT report.
This slide was presented by Fre’Drisha Dixon, Inglewood mayoral candidate and head of the Stop IUSD School Closures Coalition, during a July 30, 2026, meeting to highlight Inglewood’s financial standings based on the 2026 FCMAT report.
(
LaMonica Peters
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The LA Local
)
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Dixon said she based her stance on FCMAT’s findings, which stated the district will have a $13.3 million deficit for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Despite reservations from the local coalition, district officials still celebrated the latest news on Wednesday.
“There are a lot of folks in this room and on this board who have worked for 14 years to achieve this goal,” said James Morris, Inglewood county administrator, as he explained the latest district scores for the board.
Echoing those sentiments, Joyce L. Randall, Area 1 school board trustee, talked about feeling overwhelmed with emotion.
“After being under receivership for so long, to finally see the goal and we’re about to cross the finish line, I’m very excited,” Randall said.
Ernesto Castillo, Area 5 school board trustee, approached the moment with the same gratitude and a little bit of humor.
“You all are great people and I enjoy seeing you but I can’t wait to stop seeing you,” Castillo jokingly said to Fine and Harte. “I can’t wait for this relationship to finally end!”
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The next document review will begin in September and FCMAT will conduct interviews and site visits in February 2027.
The final report will be issued next year in July and posted to FCMAT’s website.
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