A Ball State charter school and Fort Wayne Community Schools could soon settle a dispute over $78,400 worth of student funding, a spokeswoman for Indiana's Department of Education said Monday.
"We're trying to resolve the issue now," said Mary Tiede Wilhelmus of the DOE. "I would certainly hope it would be this week."
Marty Dezelan, the director of Ball State's office of charter schools, traveled to Fort Wayne Tuesday to meet with the charter school in question, the Timothy L. Johnson Academy. He said he will discuss the enrollment-reporting process and other "big picture" issues, but not because of the Fort Wayne debate.
As the academy's sponsor, Ball State is not responsible for monitoring the enrollment data, Wilhelmus said. Instead, Ball State is asked to ensure the charter school adheres to its charter and Indiana education laws.
Dezelan will review the books, however, and he may know who made the mistake afterwards, but it's a long shot, he said.
"Quite honestly ... there's no guarantee that there will be a clear indication of who made the mistake," Dezelan said.
Kathy Friend, the chief financial officer for the Fort Wayne district, said she doesn't know how the discrepancy emerged. In her letter to the DOE, she wrote that the academy's enrollment data "raises serious questions about whether it was falsified, worthy of state investigation."
The roots of the debate were planted last year during a routine process all schools must undergo.
Every Sept. 13, the schools must report their enrollment for the upcoming year. The state then uses these numbers to determine per-student funding.
After the deadline last year, both the Fort Wayne Community School district and Timothy L. Johnson Academy claimed the same 14 students. Both districts also claimed the $5,600 reimbursement the state gives for each student in the Fort Wayne district.
After finding the competing figures, the DOE asked the Fort Wayne district to investigate.
East Allen County Schools also accused the academy of inflating its enrollment by five students, according to the Associated Press.
Friend said she doubts the problems arose because a student switched schools on or after the Sept. 13 deadline. The last student to switch, she said, did so on Sept. 11.
"I don't know why it would have happened," Friend said. "It just makes us a little weary."
Kelly Updike, a representative of the charter school, said the school was very careful and meticulous when it calculated its students. Updike works for the Leona Group, a national company that helps manage the school.
The charter school has tried to arrange a meeting with the Fort Wayne Community School District, Updike said, but she didn't know if a meeting had been scheduled.
Though the situation rests between the two institutions, Indiana's State Board of Accounts will audit the schools' enrollment figures, but not until early fall.
Meanwhile, the DOE is waiting to issue the $74,800, Wilhelmus said.
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