New York made an accounting error that cost public schools $12 Million, while overpaying charter schools by that amount.
“The $12 million misallocation is about 7.8 percent of the $153 million the state distributed to its Local Educational Agencies in 2017-18 for Title IIA, which supports professional development initiatives such as teacher training, recruitment and retention.
“The state distributed additional funds to 275 charter schools and three school districts, and underallocated funds to 677 school districts and 10 Special Act schools. The majority of those school districts will be repaid the gap from last year, in addition to their correct allocations for the 2018-19 school year.
“But because the underfunding at the larger districts of Buffalo ($382,610), Rochester ($317,452), East Ramapo ($208,311) and Syracuse ($168,317) exceeded amounts of $130,728, their reallocations will be spread out over a two-year period. New York City’s repayment of $7,085,650 will be made up over a four-year period.
“The charter schools and three districts will not be forced to repay the extra money they received last year, Elia said but will will see reductions in their Title IIA funding over the course of up to five years to make up the funds.”
Some charter schools were paid thre-to-four Times the amount actually due. Here is the spreadsheet, showing the correct allocations compared to what was paid to the charters.
Achievement First Crown Heights, for example, was due $60,000, but paid $200,000.
The Harlem Hebrew Language Academy was owed $16,000 but paid $51,000.
The Success Academy (Upper West Side) was owed $31,000, but received $116,000.
A nice reward for the charters. A loss for public schools. Someone should hire an auditor to check previous years’ allocations.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
God knows Eva “Success” Moskowitz needed the extra walking around money.
Shame on you, Mary Ann Elia.
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LOL: 12 million dollar “error.” Another NYSED PQ test (political quotient).
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It will be interesting to see what happens if any of the charter schools that received too much funding and close their doors before repaying the money back to the state. You can bet New York will never ever see the money back from schools that received overpayments and close their doors.
Also, if the leadership of these over paid charter schools had any integrity they would have recognized the overpayments and let the state know about it. I guess integrity is not required as a leader of a charter school in New York.
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Nice point. As with hedge funds–the public is always left “holding the bag.” Just another “take-the-money-and-run” strategy in action. First cousin to letting hurricanes destroy cities so we can privatize public services in the rebuilding effort. Fees up front, guaranteed; results for clients, not guaranteed.
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Holy cow! Speechless.
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