Kinston Charter Academy is still making waves two weeks after surrendering its charter.
There are questions being raised by state officials, who are wondering what happened to more than $600,000 in state funding received by KCA.
Ozie Lee Hall Jr., the principal and CEO of the school from 2007-13, said that $666,818 was given to the school in July as part of an allotment based upon projections for 336 students to enroll in the fall. At the time of the school’s closure, there were only 230 students at the school.
The school, which opened in 2004, closed its doors Sept. 6 due to financial reasons. Hall attributes part of the closure to failures to secure a $300,000 loan and an additional loan to refinance the school.
“Without refinancing the mortgage equity in the building, which was $2 million, the school was insolvent,” Hall said.
Hall said all of the money received in July has been spent, but the funds were used for valid expenses.
According to Hall, $230,000 was used to repay a loan that was due in July, $163,000 for taxes and paying the employee retirement system and $170,000 to cover payroll for July and August.
Other smaller expenses included $80,000 to the state for employee benefits, $27,000 for building maintenance, $20,000 in insurance, $12,000 for buses and $18,000 in advertising, Hall said.
Hall said the school only has $3,000 currently in its bank account and has no other source of income. He said the school does not have the funds to pay teachers their finial paychecks and is under the impression the state will foot the bill.
Joel Medley, director of the office of charter schools, said the money given to KCA in July was supposed to last the school until the second allotment, which would have been dispersed in November.
“The money they received should have been able to pay teacher salaries,” Medley said. “To say that this is a department responsibility is not exactly accurate.”
Medley said it was a “budget issue” and if the school had remained open they would have run out of money in the middle of the year.
He also said the state was reviewing the matter as part of normal close-out procedures.
“Anytime a school closes it is never just over and done,” Medley said. “There’s always a process.”
Medley said state officials have already been down to KCA to make sure the process of transferring student records to the proper schools and an inventory of assets is conducted.
After learning that the state does not intend to provide money for teacher salaries, Hall wrote a letter dated Sept. 17 to State Superintendent June Atkinson asking for clarification on the matter.
Hall said he hopes there will be a resolution soon.
Noah Clark can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Noah.Clark@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nclark763.