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Half of Ohio Charter School’s Students ‘Didn’t Exist at All’
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A special audit has found that a now-closed Ohio charter school padded its rolls by nearly half and collected $1.1 million in tax dollars it wasn’t owed.
Auditor Dave Yost said Monday that General Chappie James Leadership Academy, in Montgomery County, reported having 459 students in attendance, but only 239 students could be documented. He said at a news conference that the other 220 “didn’t exist at all.”
Several missing students were reported as attending over several years. Yost said that signaled potential fraud, not just bookkeeping errors.
He urged lawmakers to act to reform Ohio’s charter school regulations.
The Ohio Department of Education calculated the unjustified payments for the review period from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2014. Schools receive money based on how many students they have.