The five charter schools within the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools System recently received three years worth of back payments owed to them by the district.
The total for all five schools dating back to fiscal year 2018 is $66,530. Payments range from just under $7,000 to Tybee Island Maritime Academy to just under $28,000 to Oglethorpe Charter School.
According to the district website, the payments were made from the district’s general fund and are adjusted allocations paid with budget transfers between accounts.
The funds the charter schools said the district owed to them stem from “other local revenue” the district received from sources other than local property taxes, federal funding, state funding, and the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) funds.
“‘Other local revenue’ could be from when the district sells a surplus building or rents a building or has interest income,” explained Barry Lollis, executive director of Savannah Classical Academy. He added the district is supposed to allocate a share of those proceeds with the charter schools.
