Commissioner irked at paying charter debt

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Dumont Clarke was not happy to read that county taxpayers could be on the hook for repaying $600,000 in debt that StudentFirst Academy has amassed in its opening months.

The school's board of directors met Monday with the N.C. Charter School Advisory Board to talk about the school's survival in the wake of financial, management and educational problems that led to the firing of two founders and top administrators in December. StudentFirst leaders said they can repay the debt over the next 2 1/2 years,  relying on county money because state money can't be used for that purpose.  The board also hopes to raise private donations to help, board members said.

Clarke

Clarke emailed County Manager Dena Diorio and other county officials Tuesday asking for a report on how much county money is going to StudentFirst and what options the county has to avoid paying for the independently-run public school's mistakes.

"I would ask you to monitor developments involving this non-profit organization closely and consider being prepared to take all necessary and appropriate steps, including legal action should the Board decide to direct you to do so, to prevent the board of this non-profit from using future County tax dollars for a bailout of these current year debts,"  Clarke wrote. "...(W)hen the government gives money to non-governmental entities (whether they be non-profit or for-profit) to provide public services such as education, the government should take steps to make sure that the money is not wasted or misused.   If a non-profit charter school can get into financial trouble this quickly after it opens  (less than seven months)  and need a local government bailout of its debts, it appears to me that the regulatory oversight that is in place for charter schools,  particularly considering the rapid expansion of them that is underway for next year and the following year,  is wholly inadequate."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is required to pass along a per-pupil share of its county allotment to all charter schools that serve Mecklenburg students.  This year CMS got $356.6 million from the county and must pass along money for just over 10,800 charter students.

In a recent report to the N.C. Office of Charter Schools,  StudentFirst said it gets $74,780 a month in local money for just under 300 students enrolled there.

Paying back the debt,  which includes bank loans and overdue bills to vendors,  wouldn't force the county to pay StudentFirst extra.  Instead,  the payment plan would eat into the money available to pay for the education of next year's students.  The StudentFirst board has already cut back staff and sacrificed many of the academic extras that were promised so they can bring spending under control.

The state advisory board has given StudentFirst's board until April to present a detailed financial and academic recovery plan. Based on that,  the advisory board will decide whether to recommend that the N.C. Board of Education revoke the charter or let StudentFirst remain open.

County Commissioner Bill James agreed that he'd like to protect county money  --  "I am generally in favor of oversight for everyone,  even CMS"  --  but voiced skepticism that the current system allows that.

Clarke said he expects county and CMS officials to continue talks about oversight of charter schools and local spending.

Documents tell tale of StudentFirst struggles

The question is bound to arise:  Why did the Observer dedicate so much time and space to a story about problems at StudentFirst Academy,  a new charter school serving just over 300 students?

The answer: Access and timing.

Certainly other public and private schools in our area have faced financial,  academic and management problems.  But in this case,  there was extraordinary public documentation of StudentFirst's high hopes and quick fall.

Recent charter applications are online at the N.C. Office of Charter Schools site,  and they provide a wealth of information about what founding boards say they'll do.  The application for StudentFirst was especially rich because it was a private-school conversion.  Testimonials from the likes of then-Mayor Pat McCrory and then-Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Cannon were among the documents submitted with the application.  You can also find the applications for Miracle Academy East and West,  an attempt to reproduce the StudentFirst plan even as the original charter was trying to get started.

A public records request produced a November letter from the state charter-school office detailing complaints about the school and a redacted copy of the StudentFirst board response.  The blacked-out paragraph presumably involves personnel matters that are confidential under state law.

Personnel privacy often becomes a brick wall in the quest to find out what went wrong at a school.  But in this case,  former head of school Phyllis Handford and deputy head Sandra Moss have sued the board.  That suit detailed allegations of illegal board meetings and made it clear the two women were being paid significantly more than the charter application had called for.

Documents filed with the board's response provided further accounts of the problems,  including a summary written by Prestige Preparatory School Network,  an affidavit from StudentFirst vice chair Jennifer Winstel and an affidavit by Prestige executive Mark Cramer.

Finally,  Observer researcher Maria David found archived video of an hour-long presentation by Handford, Moss and several supporters outlining the charter plan for the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum.  That offered a more personal glimpse of the plan and the people pitching it.

Moss (second from left) and Handford (right) at breakfast forum

All of this landed as questions about charter-school quality are paramount in North Carolina. The state's system for reviewing and monitoring charter schools is evolving as the number of schools expands.  As the taxpayer investment in charters rises and thousands more families stake their children's future on the independent schools, it becomes ever more important to examine the system's successes and shortcomings.

If you're still up for more reading,  the National Association of Charter School Authorizers offers a lot of information, including a state-by-state comparison of systems and a list of 10 questions to ask. Public Impact,  a Chapel Hill consulting firm,  also offers a number of publications examining charter quality.