Ten-day teacher furloughs. No art or music classes. Computer purchases ditched to cover the costs of basic supplies.
Some of Georgia’s independent state charter schools are facing months-long funding lags -- and scaled-back ambitions -- as they struggle to operate on hundreds of thousands of dollars less than they need. The cash flow problem is causing some campuses to cut programs and ask staff to work after school for free.
Ivy Preparatory Academy in Norcross, the first state charter school for girls, added 160 new students this fall, but four months later it hasn't received state money to pay for the growth. Ivy Prep Head of School Nina Gilbert said the school, still waiting for one-third of its state funding, had to take out a $250,000 bridge loan to cover expenses.
“We try to keep the students insulated from the problem,” Gilbert said. “We have to be very creative. If a teacher calls in sick another teacher will give up their lunch or planning time to take over their class. Instead of making copies here, sometimes they will go to Kinkos.”
The issue boils down to timing: Some new charter schools don't get full state funding until they've been open for a year and have established what they need to operate. Some others grow by as much as a grade level per year, but the state's funding takes eight or nine months to catch up with that growth. That's the case with Ivy Prep, which grew from 300 to 460 students this year and added an eighth grade. And Georgia Cyber Academy, a state charter school of 6,500, is still awaiting funding for 1,500 new students.
“The problem is with the finance department of the state Department of Education,” said Tony Roberts, CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. “What they are doing is withholding funds. This is inexcusable.”
Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the state Education Department, says that the state has an established payment schedule and it may take an act of the Legislature to change it. "The spring supplement [isn’t] passed until March or April,” he said. "If they start in August and they are not funded until March, they couldn’t operate.”
Charter school leaders have appealed to Georgia Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, author of charter legislation. On Thursday, 23 more state charter schools will be considered for approval by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission. The hopefuls could face the same cash flow challenges. The funding gap is worse for new commission charters whose financial situation keeps some from offering staples like art and music.
The state’s funding schedule is geared toward existing schools with reserves that can stay afloat until new allocations arrive. New schools approved by the commission operate like start-up businesses and only receive about 60 percent of the funding they need to open their doors, explained Mark Peevy, the commission's executive director.
“They take a while to establish reserve money for tough times," Peevy said.
Jones and Sen. Tommie Williams recently met with state charter commission officials, the state’s school superintendent, the chair of the state Board of Education and budget officials to try to fix the lag.
“Everybody is trying to figure out how to do this,” she said. “These are new schools, they have to be handled differently to make sure there is adequate funding. It can’t wait.’’
Jones said some of the new commission charters are still only receiving half of the money they should get. Many are lacking allocations for special education services, teacher salaries and growth.
Ben Dismukes, a founder of Pataula Charter Academy, which opened this fall in Edison, wrote Jones saying the school was in crisis: “We have furloughed our teachers [10 days] and we have elected not to pay into Social Security for qualifying employees. ... Despite our scrambling, we will find ourselves in the red by May or June of 2011 unless someone steps in."
The Museum School of Avondale Estates, which teaches academics through field trip adventures, had to scale back plans for a computer room for 20 and install only 10. Principal Katherine Kelbaugh says she must pay $2,000 to $5,000 in salary supplements for her teachers' experience and degrees the state has yet to fund.
“We are getting paid as if they all are first-year teachers with bachelors’ degrees,” she said. “We have students that require the services of speech and language pathologists. We are having to use our operating funds to cover that.”
Fulton Leadership Academy principal Gavin Samms said his budget is so tight that he can't afford a secretary, a full-time assistant principal, art or music teachers. Plans to have students rebuild an airplane at the school for boys that teaches academics through aviation also have been cut for now.
"When you start out you have this vision of what you want to do,” Samms said.“The reality is you are pinching pennies to do the best you can. We get a little bit of money for teachers. You have to purchase supplies. It’s tough.”
