School district looks for 'latitude' from state

Sisters School Superintendent Elaine Drakulich will meet with Oregon Department of Education Legal Affairs Coordinator Cindy Hunt to see if the ODE will provide the district with any latitude in its withholding of $1.2 million in State School Funds.

"I'm not going in to negotiating anything," Drakulich said. "I'm going in to see what latitude there is within this decision ... in terms of the payment payoff schedule."

The school district's problem is the result of a homeschool program it housed at Sonrise Christian School from 1999 to 2004. An audit conducted by the Oregon Secretary of State's Audits Division found that this homeschool program inappropriately counted students in its Average Daily Membership (ADM) calculations.

As a result, the Sisters School District inappropriately collected some $1,2 million from the SSF. Now, the state wants the money back and plans to withhold the $1.2 million from SSF payments the district receives each month.

According to Hunt two repayment alternatives are available to the district at this time, an 11-month repayment plan that would start this month or a five-year plan. Both were offered to the Sisters School District by the ODE in a letter dated September, 17, 2007, from Oregon State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo.

"At this time it's the two options that you see in the letter, either the payments will be withheld within this school year or they will be withheld over the course of five years," said Hunt. "I don't know what their (the school district's) intention is as far as repayment. We haven't entered into an agreement yet for the repayment option over the course of five years."

Hunt told The Nugget that no other repayment alternatives are available to the school district at this time.

"At this time its the two options that you see in the letter, either the payments will be withheld within this school year or they will be withheld over the course of five years," she said.

Drakulich told The Nugget that the fact that the letter from the ODE states that "a correction occurring over a five-year period will require a written agreement" opens the door for discussion.

"We're going to review the whole thing, but that sentence at the end means that they're open to elongating those payments. What that sentence means is really what I'm going in to find out (when I speak with Hunt)," Drakulich said. "She (Hunt) may have some thoughts on if there's something related to the overall decision that could be discussed in more detail also. What other directions could this district take on changing the decision?"

According to Hunt, whether or not the ODE would agree to a repayment plan other than the two that are currently on the table "would depend upon what that alternative approach was.

The ODE's decision that it must recoup the funds is final. The Sisters School District's only option for a change in this final decision is to appeal the matter to the courts.

"I have no reason to believe that they're doing that (appealing)," Hunt said.

After speaking with Hunt, Drakulich will bring her findings back to the school board.

"They'll need to make a final decision on where we go from here," Drakulich said.