Two FL charter schools owe half a million to Lee county. Gave wrong number of students.

[madfloridian]

I read the word "error" in the article, but that is not an error. It is not just an error when the school reports that 465 students were in a course, yet they can only document 13 students.

There are names for that, and "error" is not one of them.

From Lee County Florida.

Charter high schools owe Lee school district

North Nicholas High and Coronado High schools reported inaccurate numbers of students participating in on-the-job training programs, the state audit shows.

An audit of Coronado High School found there was no documentation to show 465 students participated in an on-the-job course. In a letter from Coronado Principal Arthur Nauss to the Florida auditor general, the school could provide documentation of 13 students in the course.

These schools were getting money that otherwise would have gone to public schools, and they were getting it by screwing up the numbers.

The district’s preliminary estimates show North Nicholas owes $204,236 and Coronado owes $267,543, based on per-student funding from 2011, said Lee County schools Budget Director Ami Desamours.

Those are not errors, there are other names for doing business like that with taxpayer money.

The article says there were a number of other mistakes, including missing paperwork students who speak languages other than English.

“Each case is different, so we look at such things as the level of severity, whether or not the misconduct appears to have been negligent or deliberate and the capacity of the school to make the necessary corrections,” McCullers said, in an email. “In this case, the error turned out to be costly for the schools, but it does appear to be a procedural problem that can be successfully remedied.”

McCullers is Lee schools director for grants and program development and liaison to public charter schools. Someone needs to sit him down and have a talk about "levels of severity" and all of his other excuses.

[tnlefty]

1. is this gonna be like Wall Street where fraud is called something

else oh, like an error, and the taxpayers are footing the bill while what they thought they were paying taxes for, i.e., a free appropriate public education is slighted? Will the monies be recovered?

And no, it was never free per se prior to Raygun the country seemed to take pride in education and a sense that we're all in this together about many things and there was a sense of paying taxes to improve society as a whole. That idea has been eroded for quite some time and it seems to be getting worse.

[madfloridian]

6. That's exactly what it is. It's ok if you are a charter school in FL.

But public schools better not even think of trying it.

[Divine Discontent]

2. um.. yeah. you can't claim it's a mistake if you get TONS more cash than you know you should've

such is the way of the "charter"




Get it now, or one of a million other designs! http://www.zazzle.com/the_party_of_no_has_to_go_gop_republicans_obstruct_bumper_sticker-128224072221438203?rf=238107662556833486

[No Elephants]

3. Steal from the government while you pretend to hate government programs.

Typical.

:puke:

[madfloridian]

4. Just about the truth.

[madfloridian]

5. Lee Schools boss says "maybe" we will look into this half million discrepancy.

Maybe? That is not enough. This is more than just an "error." What if a public school pulled something like this.

This situation is being treated so casually. Unbelievable.

Lee Co. Schools boss responds to charter school money issues

Funding is given to the schools based on these enrollment figures. North Nicholas High and Coronado High allegedly reported inaccurate numbers of students participating in on the job training programs. The $460,000 owed to the school district is raising questions about charter school oversight. The charter schools typically have handled their own finances but Lee County school boss dr. Joseph burke says that may need to change.

“We have been talking internally about ways in which we can do some kind of spot checks during the year as to how some of the schools are doing with the new regulations and maybe the internal account regulations.” Dr. Joseph Burke says.

The district is now trying to reach a payback agreement with those two charter schools.