Article: Charter school owes money; Second straight year Rhea Academy (Dayton) has 'finding for recovery'

From Dennis Leone

12/09/05

They are not, John. This is probably the best thing Bob Slater has done in his career. When the charter schools first started appearing, Bob approached the State Dept of Ed and requested that the 14% and 10% payments go directly to STRS instead of the charter schools. In a shocker, the Dept agreed. In the 611 Ohio school districts, the Dept sends each school district its total money, then the treasurer pay the necessary amounts to STRS. Can you imagine how many charter schools simply would NOT have paid STRS, and they would have had a million reasons not to do so.

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From John Curry
December 9, 2005

Dennis, this is good news for STRS and retirees. You bring up an interesting point. I wonder if there are current or failed Ohio charter schools who are in arrears to Ohio STRS? John
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From Dennis Leone
12/09/05
The most important thing John, is that Bob Slater got the 14% and 10% contributions for STRS from the Rhea Academy, irrespective of the problems they are having. It's just like the charter school in Toledo that didn't pay all of its teachers.........but STRS first got the required 10% for each one of them.

DL
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Charter school owes money
Second straight year Rhea Academy has 'finding for recovery'

By Scott Elliott

Dayton Daily News(12-09-05)

DAYTON Dayton charter school operator Monica Rhea again owes more than $30,000 for school expenses she cannot document, the second straight year the state auditor has leveled "finding for recovery" against her.
In all, Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery's office found $31,164 in operating expenses it could not verify were used for legitimate school functions during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2003. That equates to about 5 percent of the school's total operating expenses. Thursday, Rhea read a statement to reporters disputing the auditor's report and declined to answer questions.

"Rhea Academy, the governing board, the employees and the contractors dispute the state of Ohio auditor's findings for recovery as being factually incorrect," she said.

The audit was critical of the accounting methods and management used at the school located at 113 E. Third St. in Dayton, citing several instances in which important decisions were made without the required approval from the school's governing board.

A spokeswoman for the auditor said the school's books were declared "unauditable" due to lack of documentation and that auditors needed subpoenas to obtain some financial data.

"I remain strongly committed to school choice," Montgomery said in a statement. "But if charter schools are to remain a viable option for our children, we must make certain they are accountable for public dollars. Unfortunately, this has not been the case with Rhea Academy."

In 2004, the Ohio auditor issued a finding for recovery against Rhea, the school's founder and superintendent, for $33,000 for checks she wrote but could not document, money transfers from the academy's bank account to her personal account and other cash withdrawn or signed off on without documentation.

An auditor's office spokeswoman said the past debt was resolved, but she could not provide details.

This time, more than $7,000 worth of school expenses had no invoice or supporting documents, including $4,958 for a life insurance policy on Monica Rhea. There also was $9,152 in debit card spending for travel, including expenses for trips to California and Great Britain and $2,596 in debit card expenses without proof that those purchases were school-related.

Patricia Hughes is the director overseeing the school for its sponsor, the Columbus-based Buckeye Community Hope Foundation. She said the school has a new treasurer and her organization is monitoring the finances.

"We're doing bimonthly financial reviews as required by contract with the Ohio Department of Education," she said.

Charter schools are tax supported, tuition free public schools independently run by private operators. With about 85 students in kindergarten to 10th grade, Rhea Academy will receive about $567,000 in tax dollars this school year.

Concerns were raised about Rhea's financial problems shortly after the school opened seven years ago. The state board of education approved Rhea's charter application in 1999 and paid her $300,000 in state money, but was unaware she had closed a personal bankruptcy case just two months earlier and agreed to sell her car and other property to raise 10 percent of the $56,000 she owed creditors.

The state has since tightened its screening and background check system for charter school applicants.

Rhea said at the time that her personal financial troubles had no bearing on her ability to run the school.

Last month, Rhea paid $16,000 in back taxes on six real estate properties on the same day the Dayton Daily News called her with questions about the debt.