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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 21, 2014 11:29 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative James R. Roebuck, Jr. |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Charter School Lease Overpayment Legislation |
| In the near future I will be introducing legislation in response to concerns about lease overpayment to charter schools. Since December 2012, audits by the Department of the Auditor General found that the Department of Education approved and paid $1.8 million in lease reimbursements to 7 charter schools despite questions about whether those reimbursements are allowed under the Public School Code and PDE guidelines, specifically that state lease reimbursements to charter schools are prohibited for facilities owned by individuals or entities related to the school. This legislation will make clear that a person who serves as a founder, a board of trustee or an administrator of a charter school as well as an administrator or executive of the educational management service provider of a charter school shall not receive any payments for approved reimbursable annual rental for leases of buildings or portions of buildings for charter school use. The legislation will also require that in its application for funding for lease reimbursement that the charter school shall provide a copy of the signed lease agreement for the leased building and a copy of the deed for the leased building that was previously required by the Department of Education in 2009-10 but has not been required by the department since then. Finally, the legislation requires the Department of Education to seek reimbursement from any charter school for all inappropriate lease reimbursements. So far no corrective action has been taken by the Department of Education on the findings of the Auditor General report on the $1.8 million in charter school lease overpayments. In fact, according to the Auditor General’s office, no corrective action by PDE on a charter school lease issue related to property ownership has been taken since a charter school in Philadelphia was required to repay $225,000 in 2009-10. The importance of clear legislative language regarding charter school lease payments is especially urgent given that lease overpayment are state payments from the same state budget line item that funds approved school construction and renovation projects. Unfortunately there has been a moratorium on state reimbursements for school district projects with over 203 approved projects by school districts still waiting for state funding. Unlike these school district projects, lease payments to charter schools must be paid by the department. The Auditor General noted in March 2013 that “If the improper lease reimbursement problem is more widespread among the state’s 157 brick and mortar charter schools it could be siphoning off millions of dollars away from other education priorities.” These education priorities include timely state payment of approved school district projects. If you have any questions, please contact my office at 717-787-7044. Thank you in advance for your support. |
Introduced as HB2237