Indiana charter school cluster (three schools)

LOCAL CHARTER SCHOOLS CITED BY INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS; March 31, 2011; The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster, IN)

The Indiana State Board of Accounts has released reports on three local charter schools, citing examples of poor record-keeping and money management.

Reports were released in mid-March on the 21st Century Charter School of Gary, Charter School of the Dunes in Gary and the East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy. All three reports covered the period of July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2010.

The educational management company for Charter School of the Dunes and the East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy is Chicago-based American Quality Schools. The management company for 21st Century Charter is Indianapolis-based GEO Foundations.

Paul Joyce, deputy state examiner, characterized the problems in all three reports as an overall lack of internal control procedures established by the charter school boards and the management company for the schools. He said they are either not following the controls in place or don't have controls to follow…

With the expansion of charter schools across the state, Joyce said the Indiana State Board of Accounts workload has increased dramatically. He said if the Indiana Legislature approves the current language for charter schools, board of accounts officials hope to get the authority to establish internal control policies and procedures for charter schools to meet minimum standards…