Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board ratified a contract Monday night with People Involved in Education to operate the Sweet Home Charter School.
The board also voted to maintain control of special funds that the state may disburse to school districts based on attendance counts, but it did agree to split funds it received earlier this year with the charter school.
The last sticking point in the contract was over language, sought by PIE, which would bind the district to split those funds, the same way it splits regular state school funding. State law and the existing contract allow the board to decide whether to pass through such money to charter schools.
The board voted 6-1 to reject the Charter School proposal and retain control over whether it will pass future state funds derived from attendance counts through to the Charter School.
Kevin Burger voted no. Voting yes were Mike E. Adams, Chanz Keeney, Dale Keene, Mike Reynolds, David VanDerlip and Jenny Daniels. Chairman Jason Redick abstained from voting because his wife works for the Charter School, and he has a potential conflict of interest. Billie Weber was absent.
The board voted unanimously, with Redick abstaining, to ratify the contract and to split state funds received last fall with the school.
The money in question was from the state’s School Year Subaccount grant, which provided some $29,000 to the Sweet Home Charter School. The Lebanon School District split funding from the same source with Sand Ridge Charter School.
The district normally passes state funding through to the charter school at 80 percent and keeps 20 percent for elementary and junior high.
The board chose to take no action on the funding in February when it received a report that some districts do and some districts don’t pass through the funding.
Wes Marchbanks suggested the board might have made a different decision and acted in February had it known that 94 percent of charter schools contacted receive the funds.
Eighty-two of those asked received funding, said Sherrie Ingram, representing the Sweet Home Charter School. Five did not, and 28 did not respond. Some school officials were unaware of the funds and planned to ask their districts for the money.
Business Manager Kevin Strong said he contacted nine districts. Of those, three passed the money through to their charter schools. Six did not.
Supt. Don Schrader said that Strong could get more information if the board wanted it.
Charter School supporters, who are parents and taxpayers, told the board that the money should follow the students to their school.
Strong said the district already subsidizes the Charter School through the existing funding equalization formula, which calculates payments based on districtwide teacher experience and poverty rates. The homeless rate in the district is 10 times larger than that at the Charter School, Strong said.
Districts have justified keeping the money because it would mean districts must cut elsewhere, Strong said, and schools with smaller classrooms cannot use the funds the way the Legislature intended. The funds were intended to help decrease class sizes and restore schedules.
PIE Board Chairman Doug Miner said it also was intended to enhance education, and the funds would do just that at the Sweet Home Charter School.
The board was split 4-3 on whether to give up that control by including the revenue sharing in the contract. Keeney, Burger and Reynolds initially supported including it in the contract, while Keene, Adams, VanDerlip and Daniels wanted to retain the option of keeping the money if necessary.
Keeney and Reynolds argued that the district owed the money to the Charter School. Other board members and Schrader said the board could still pass the money through while retaining the option to keep it.
He also told the board this is the first time the district has received money like this since the Charter School opened.
Following the decision to retain control over the money, the board chose to split this year’s funds with the Charter School.
The new contract, which still must be signed by PIE, increases the Sweet Home Charter School’s enrollment cap from 234 to 270, allowing enough room to add a seventh and eighth grade. The additional enrollment may only be used to add the new grades. Kindergarten students count as half in terms of enrollment.
The contract is for five years.
PIE had requested a larger enrollment cap but did not want it limited to new grades, and PIE also sought a 10-year contract.
In other business, the board:
n Learned that Sweet Home High School will not allow students owing fees to walk at next year’s graduation ceremony.
The high school has about $6,138 in outstanding fees, said Principal Pat Stineff. Right now, the school allows them to walk but it won’t give them a diploma or transcripts until the fees are paid.
Most of the fees are from lost textbooks, which can cost more than $100. The school has put barcodes on the books, and that has helped, but students still lose the textbooks. Students are also behind in paying athletic fees. They also owe money for lost uniforms.
Thirty-three seniors owe money, Stineff said. The amount ranges from $42 to $697, with about 70 to 80 percent owing more than $100.
A number of those who owe will go on to the Access College Today program, which delays awarding of the diploma, allowing the district to pay college tuition for high school students after they would normally have graduated.
Once they’re in college, the college is not concerned about the diploma, she said, so some students may never pay off their debts.
As a result, the school will attempt to get them to pay by denying them the privilege of walking in the graduation ceremony.
“Walking at graduation is a privilege, not a right,” Stineff said.
n Learned that the district will create a committee to determine how to structure the swimming pool program.
The levy to fund the pool was approved by the community, Schrader said, and he thought the planning process should include the community. The committee will include district staff and community members and a board member if the board wishes to be represented.
n Approved the retirement of Sweet Home Junior High School Principal Hal Huschka and approved a personal retirement agreement to allow him to work during the 2012-13 school year.
n Hired Alison Epperly as district speech and language pathologist.
n Hired Matt Banta as half-time PE and health teacher at Sweet Home High School.
n Hired Kyle Moeller as fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Holley.
n Accepted the resignation of Jill Denbrook, Hawthorne and Oak Heights Title I teacher.
n Accepted a $1,000 Wells Fargo grant to Foster School.
n Hired Elspeth Leisman as fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Hawthorne School.
n Hired Leslie Jennings as second-grade teacher at Oak Heights.
n Approved the transfer of $50,000 to the district’s newly established Textbook and Technology Fund.
As discussed at the April 30 budget meeting, the purpose of the fund is to provide a tool for wise spending decisions. If funds remain at the end of the fiscal year, it eliminates the “use it or lose it” approach to spending and helps schools save funds to update a technology lab all at once.
n Adopted a $28.4 million budget for 2012-13, imposing a property tax of $5.0057 per $1,000 of value.
n Adopted achievement compacts, setting goals, as part of a statewide waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act requirements.
n Approved an integrated pest management plan and policy.
n Approved administrative rules governing Title I and parental involvement.
n Following an executive session, postponed ratification of a contract with district teachers until a meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 18.