Education funds lost in charter school closure

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

The closure of the Techworld Charter School after just nine weeks of operation has cost the Clark County School District $315,000 in lost state funds to educate the 80 students who were displaced, local school officials say.

The Washington, D.C.-based school shut its doors at its two temporary locations on Madison and Monroe avenues Friday, apparently ending a brief Las Vegas history plagued by a rocky startup and building permit woes.

The Clark County School Board could decide in January whether to revoke Techworld's charter or let it stand so the school can reopen, school district officials said.

Charter schools get taxpayer funds but operate independently.

In October Techworld sent about 50 students back to public schools after exceeding building capacity limits. The roughly 80 students still in Techworld last week will be returned to their neighborhood public schools. Their grades and attendance records will be accepted, Craig Kadlub, Clark County School District liaison for charter schools, said.

Had the 140 students originally at Techworld been counted by the Clark County School District in September, the nation's sixth largest, it would have received $4,500 per student in state funds -- $630,000.

"It is a complex funding issue, so it could be worse," Kadlub said. "We also could have hired five or six new teachers with a higher student count."

Techworld received the state funding for two quarters, or $315,000, Kadlub said. The state could return the other $315,000 to the school district.

"We are working with our deputy attorney general to see if we can get more money," state Superintendent of Schools Mary Peterson said. "Techworld has received two quarterly payments. We will see if we can get the other two quarters for the school district."

Peterson said Nevada law also provides for the state to receive a failed charter school's property if it files for federal bankruptcy protection.

Although that has not yet happened, the company appears to be on shaky ground.

Last month the Washington, D.C., Board of Education began a process to shut down the two-year-old Techworld Public Charter School in the nation's capital. The Washington Post reported Nov. 16 that an audit of the school that has 350 students revealed accounting inadequacies.

An operator at Techworld's Washington, D.C., office said Tuesday the company's high-profile executive director, Daanen Strachan, who led efforts to get charter facilities established in Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Miami, resigned about a month ago.

Several calls to the company's Silver Springs, Md., office and local Techworld offices were not returned.

Charter schools were approved by the Nevada Legislature in 1997. Two charter schools now operate in Clark County -- Odyssey, which instructs mostly over the Internet, and Keystone in Sandy Valley. The Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf has been approved and plans to open next fall.

The Las Vegas Techworld school was plagued by problems from the start. The state education department submitted its application to the school district in May, leaving little time for approval and startup by September.

The school's planned location on Maryland Parkway did not meet the building code standards, and school officials were forced to set up temporary operations at the Second Baptist and Victory Baptist churches in West Las Vegas. The temporary permits were set to expire at the end of this month.

"In mid-October I sent them a letter, asking for documented proof of where they intended to go," Kadlub said. "We did not want to find ourselves on Jan. 2 with no answers to that question. We put them on notification when they had six weeks to find a new home."

Kadlub said as a result of Techworld's failure, changes have been made on the time required to start a charter school.

Applications now must be submitted to the state Department of Education by January instead of March. Next year the deadline will be September, giving schools a full year to prepare for opening.