Events Calendar
In This Section
Library computer courses to go hands-on with laptops at branches
Falls official proposes settlement
KSU plans $200 million in improvements
School board bickers over Buchtel
Foreign visitors study STEM school
Day with Warren Buffett enriching to UA students
Wine offers a taste of KSU's centennial
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Does it work? Test team returns to try out new products advertised on television
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Sunday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns sick after sick loss in Detroit
Akron Zips:
Zips advance to Sweet Sixteen
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Post-game defensive quotes
Kent State Sports:
Kent State defeats Rochester College, 63-44
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – You are All Wrong About Jobs, or the Lack of Jobs, Being the Reason People Do Not Live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
State auditor declares Phoenix academy lacks key financial records
By John Higgins
and Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Wednesday, Apr 30, 2008
Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor said Tuesday that an Akron charter school's financial records are unauditable and gave the school 90 days to get them in order or it will lose its state funding.
The declaration means that the financial records of Phoenix Village Academy of Akron are incomplete, and auditors cannot conduct a routine financial audit, said Steve Faulkner, deputy press secretary for Taylor.
It's the second time that a new state law designed to strengthen oversight of charter schools has been applied, Faulkner said.
That law — a provision in the two-year budget that took effect in July — requires the Ohio Department of Education to halt state aid to charter schools with unauditable records.
Last month, Taylor declared financial records of the Montessori Renaissance Experience charter school in Columbus unauditable.
Phoenix Academy is privately operated but publicly funded. The school is on track to receive about $334,000 in public money this year, according to state records.
Most of that funding is attached to students living in the Akron district with a few students enrolling from Barberton, Manchester, Cuyahoga Falls, Copley-Fairlawn, Springfield and Woodridge.
Phoenix Village had about 65 students enrolled in March.
The school's sponsor — an organization authorized by the state to open and close charter schools — is Ashe Culture Center Inc., a nonprofit organization with offices in Cleveland.
Officials with Ashe could not be reached for comment.
Ashe Culture Center sponsors 15 charter schools around the state that enroll about 3,076 students and are likely to receive almost $20 million in public funds this year, according to education department records.
The state requires sponsors of schools declared unauditable to submit a written plan to the state auditor within 45 days describing efforts to provide the necessary documentation to conduct an audit, Faulkner said.
Phoenix Academy in Akron opened in 2006 and made news in June, when four sixth-graders were given a teaspoon of gin mixed with water in a graduation ceremony purportedly based on an African rite of passage testing truthfulness.
noweb
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor said Tuesday that an Akron charter school's financial records are unauditable and gave the school 90 days to get them in order or it will lose its state funding.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
