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Language Academy fights to stay open

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino recommends the charter school get a 90-day deadline to improve its finances.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published September 30, 2006

LAND O'LAKES - Saddled with $200,000 in debt, the Language Academy has been struggling to keep its doors open.

Unpaid parent volunteers are answering phones and sweeping floors as the New Port Richey charter school's board members attempt to dig the school out of a financial crisis.

But at a Friday meeting between the charter school and the Pasco school district staff, it was clear that time was running out.

Pasco school superintendent Heather Fiorentino plans to recommend that the School Board on Tuesday give the charter school 90 days - or until Jan. 1 - to improve its financial situation or be shut down.

"If you would have to close your doors, it would be at the end of the semester," Fiorentino told the charter school board. "I understand your feeling of love for the school, but you need to give us an action plan."

The charter school's public funding is based on its August estimate of 100 students. But only 62 are enrolled. That means the charter school has received an overpayment of $44,000 based on students it doesn't have.

Fiorentino plans to cut the Language Academy's funding for November to offset that overpayment and pay for the right number of students.

The bottom line: If the Language Academy doesn't get its enrollment to 105 students by Oct. 13 - one of the district's "count days" - it will lose $10,000 in public funding per month.

In addition to the $44,000 overpayment, the Language Academy is facing a $156,000 deficit, according to an August letter from accountants Lewis, Birch and Ricardo.

The charter school's annual budget is $411,804. Eight teachers work at the school.

Pasco County has six charter schools, which are publicly funded and run by private organizations.

At the Friday meeting, Language Academy board members said they cut custodial, bookkeeping and data entry positions to trim costs. Teachers at the charter school also gave back their raises, said principal Joyce Nunn.

Nunn said the school is making strides - including holding fundraisers - to avoid closure.

Nunn also said the majority of the Language Academy's debt was inherited. Nunn has said the school's problems are rooted in the actions of former principal and school founder, the Rev. Gary Carson. While he headed the charter school, the Language Academy struggled to keep balanced bank accounts and document some purchases, according to audits and the district.

About a dozen charter school parents attended Friday's meeting.

Marie Cederman of Holiday said her eighth-grade son struggled at Seven Springs Middle School before he improved his grades this year at the Language Academy.

"He's going to go back to the same system he left" if the school closes, she said. "He was an F student. Now, he is an A and B student. He gained his confidence back at this school. If it closes, it will be a disaster."

[Last modified September 29, 2006, 23:15:51]