NC charter school ordered to close due to ‘financial mismanagement issues’
One of North Carolina’s oldest charter schools is being ordered to close this month due to mismanagement of taxpayer dollars and other violations.
The State Board of Education voted Thursday to uphold the decision by the N.C. Charter Schools Review Board to not renew Children’s Village Academy in Kinston when its charter expires June 30. It’s unclear if the school can follow through on an agreement to repay $152,050 in misspent federal grant money.
“The extensive record before the State Board demonstrates years of financial mismanagement issues, legal violations and charter violations that have been ongoing even during the last two years of renewal review and up until April of this year while the school was under review for renewal,” state board member John Blackburn said during this week’s meeting.
Children’s Village leaders admitted they made mistakes. But they asked the state for a three-year renewal to continue serving 147 mostly low-income and Black children.
“CVA is the only charter school in a low-performing county, and it is achieving student outcomes,” Jonathan Vogel, an attorney for the school, said at an appeal hearing on Monday. “Its compliance issues are fixable.”
In April, the State Board also upheld the Review Board’s decision to not renew Ridgeview Charter School in Gaston County, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
‘Unable to pay its bills’
Children’s Village was among the first group of 27 charter schools that opened in North Carolina in 1997. There are now more than 200 charter schools statewide.
Unlike traditional public schools, charters need to be renewed by the state to continue to receive state and federal funding. During the renewal process, the state Department of Public Instruction received several allegations questioning how the school was handling a loan from one of its leaders and how it was spending federal funds for an after-school tutoring program.
DPI ordered the school to repay $162,597 in tutoring program funds. Children’s Village appealed DPI’s order before reaching an agreement to repay $152,050. The money still hasn’t been repaid.
More recently, Blackburn cited how the school was accused of inflating the number of students in the after-school program to get more federal money.
Blackburn said the school also violated federal law when it switched 13 of its 44 employees to independent contractors to avoid paying benefits. Vogel said it was a “rash decision” that was corrected.
Children’s Village is “a school that appears to be unable to pay its bills or operate within the bounds of the law,” Blackburn said.
Improvement plan comes too late
On Monday, a state board appeals panel chaired by Blackburn heard the school’s plea to stay open.
Vogel cited how the school is academically comparable to Lenoir County Schools and is performing better than several district schools. He said the school’s economically disadvantaged students outperform their peers in the district schools.
Vogel, who was recently hired by the school, presented a plan to replace members of Children’s Village’s board of directors and to hire outside consultants.
But members of the appeals panel said the plan came too late. They recommended that the state board reject the school’s appeal.
“Given the long history of issues that could have and should have been addressed — at a minimum over the past two years — this panel cannot in good faith base a recommendation upon assertions and promises of changes to come,” said state board member Jill Camnitz, who was on the appeals panel.
