Charter school Eastern Panhandle Preparatory Academy airs financial concerns

According to charter board executive director James Paul, the school's budget was mistakenly rooted by Accel in federal data on West Virginia's total per student funding, rather than the state's per student foundation formula. At the time of the school's opening in August, 90 percent of the latter followed students from traditional public schools to charter schools.

For-profit educational service provider Accel Schools manages 54 schools in the U.S. including Virtual Prep Academy of West Virginia. 

"We came in with a little different understanding of the amount of money that was going to come in. We had heard the 90 percent rule for a long time, so we had kind of factored that we would be somewhere around $9,000," Accel Schools Executive Vice President of Academic Improvement Chad Carr said. "Once we started doing the calculations... and it is improving, but for awhile it was $5,800 then it slowly moved up per student. That's put us into a deficit."

Paul said the budget deficit at Eastern Panhandle grew from a level the board expected of a first-year charter school as the year went on.

Carr said Accel Schools was not currently collecting any administration fees from the Eastern Panhandle Board of Directors, saying "all that 1.7 million is on Accel at this point. They're [the school] paying what they can and we're fine with that."

"This takes some time. Typically when you open a new charter school, we factor about $300,000 to $500,000 that first year that could be a loss, so we typically extend a 0 percent line of credit," Carr said. "We did the same thing with Eastern Panhandle. It's just that it's going to be more, just because of the difference in funding."

Carr stated Accel's commitment to the school, which he hopes will move toward 375-400 students with the addition of 11th grade instruction soon. He cited an Accel's school that took three years to pay off its debt as enrollment increased as an assuring factor.

"We are not in the business of closing schools, so we fully support Eastern Panhandle Prep," Carr said. "Accel is happy to float things as we get the funding formula straightened out and it sounds like we're well on our way or maybe it's already solved."

During the legislative session, lawmakers approved raising the rate of per student funding that follows students to charter schools from 90 percent to 99 percent.

"That gets us a lot closer to say $7,000 per student. Not the $9,000 that some may hope, but we can get there in future years," Professional Charter School Board President Adam Kissel said. "There's income like county levies that doesn't come in for charter schools yet, and may never, so there really is a funding inequity. That's not something we'll work on right away. We'll try to get that for next session and future sessions within the law."

Nyugen disagreed with Carr's assessment.

"I see the $1.7 million in debt. I don't see how we can repay that. If that continues, we'll have to come back and talk to you guys [charter board] about it," Nyugen said. "There's no way the school can be afloat with that kind of debt because our contract says so many things that is really alarming. Our board is reviewing our contract and hopefully [we will] get back to you soon."

She said the board has hired counsel regarding disputed responsibility between the Eastern Panhandle board and Accel Schools for various start-up costs totaling about $265,000.

Carr said Accel and the board were meeting later that day to discuss enrollment and funding factors that would put them back in the black.

Charter school board member Dewayne Duncan advised officials to begin seeking private donations. Nyugen replied there were currently no plans to do so, but expressed confidence.

"If you know Sen. Rucker, she would vow for us, this group is the group that can raise funds for many, many, many things in this area," Nyugen said.

Among three other bills directly related to charter schools that did not pass this legislative session, Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson also authored the recently passed SB 47.

That bill allows charter schools to apply to the charter board for state-funded grants of $300,000 and $100,000 for start-up costs during a charter's first year.

That bill passed in the Senate 32-1. It was voted down 9-7 in the House Education committee before being reconsidered days later.

Kissel said Eastern Panhandle was not eligible for the grant because it was run by a management company.

Paul expressed confidence in the school's ability to resolve the situation and, when asked, said the board is not considering any kind of intervention at this time.

"We're confident the school is going to be successful. We're expecting to have strong achievement results in its first year of testing,'' Paul said.

Two physical charter schools currently operate in West Virginia, Eastern Panhandle and Morgantown's West Virginia Academy. Two online schools, Virtual Preparatory Academy of West Virginia and West Virginia Virtual Academy are also present. 

Last month, the charter board signed contracts with BridgeValley Community and Technical College's nursing-focused WIN Academy, which plans to open this fall and M.E.C.C.A. Business Learning Institute, which plans to open next fall. Nitro Preparatory Academy, also to be managed by Accel, is authorized to open in fall 2023.

West Virginia currently self-imposes a limit of ten charter schools statewide, though that number can increase beginning this summer. Charter schools are less regulated than traditional public schools. Each is approved or denied by the charter board, members of which are appointed by the governor. 

Neither a message left with ACCEL schools nor an email left with school administration seeking further information were returned by press time.