Outside auditors are recommending the immediate closure of a charter school in Plaquemine for, among other things, charging parents thousands of dollars “in tuition and fees” to educate their children at remote locations across the state — even though the school received between $14,000 to $16,000 a year in public education funding for each of those kids.
The auditor found that Iberville Charter Academy had students on its roll not just at its campus in Plaquemine but also at seven previously unreported “learning pods,” where students receive a mix of virtual and in-person instruction. All seven pods assessed a range of unusual charges. The pods were discovered in Baton Rouge, Breaux Bridge, Gonzales, Houma, Metairie, Pierre Part and Thibodaux.
The auditors say the parent charges violate state law. But the charter school argues they are legitimate fees and that the children still received “basic education services” for free. Whatever the legality, these pod arrangements are testing how far a public school can go in the kinds of things it asks parents to pay for out of their own pockets. Charter schools are public schools run privately via charters, or contracts. Leaders of Iberville Charter Academy are fighting back aggressively.
In a nine-page response sent to state officials Friday, Gary McGoffin, a Lafayette attorney representing the charter school, trashed the audit, saying it is “of no value and should be totally disregarded.” The attorney says the money being charged to parents is not tuition at all, but the kind of fees that other public schools routinely charge parents for extra educational services such as before and after school care or music lessons. The Louisiana Department of Education commissioned the audit in January, and it was completed Sept. 29. It was conducted by TenSquare, a Washington, D.C-based consulting company with an office in New Orleans and which works with lots of charter schools.
