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Charter school funds, employee vanish

By Jenny LaCoste-Caputo - Express-News

Leaders of KIPP San Antonio, a branch of one of the most successful charter school programs in the country, are reeling after learning a former employee may have embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the school district's accounts.

According to KIPP board member Michele Brown, a member of the district's financial operation's team who was working from home last Thursday stopped returning phone calls and e-mail after 12 p.m.

The next morning, one of KIPP's financial institutions contacted officials to alert them to suspicious activity on an account. The employee didn't show up to work Friday and has not been located since.

So far, officials have determined that a sum “in the low six figures” was missing. Brown declined to reveal the total amount because officials still are going through all their accounts. The employee was fired for not showing up to work.

The Police Department's white-collar crimes division is investigating, and police say the former employee, whom KIPP and SAPD declined to name, is a suspect.

“We're working with our financial institutions, law enforcement and our insurance company,” Brown said. “We do have insurance for fraud, and we anticipate that we will be able to file a claim.”

Police Officer Matthew Porter said the investigation will take a minimum of 90 days.

He said investigators are going through wire transfers and credit card charges. He said some of the activity may qualify as a federal offense.

Mark Larson, head of KIPP San Antonio, said the missing money will not affect students or day-to-day operations at the district's two schools: KIPP Aspire Academy and KIPP University Prep. The district has an annual operating budget of about $5 million.

“It was caught quickly, and we were able to limit the damage,” Larson said.

KIPP schools are public charter schools that receive state funding but are free from many of the requirements of traditional public schools.

The middle and high school serve a combined 500 students, and Larson has plans to expand, eventually operating 10 schools — four elementary, four middle and two high schools — by 2017, all serving inner-city kids.

KIPP stands for the Knowledge is Power Program and operates 82 schools nationwide serving about 20,000 students.

The program has seen success with students often tagged as the most challenging to educate — minority children who come from low-income neighborhoods.

On average, from 2001 to 2008, students who were with KIPP for four years jumped from the 40th to the 82nd percentile in math and from the 32nd to the 60th percentile in reading on national tests. The success has made KIPP, which works mainly with disadvantaged children, a shining example in the charter school movement.