Cleburne Times ReviewKauffman Leadership Academy CEO/Superintendent Theresa Kauffman said they are waiting for the Texas Education Agency to award the school a start-up grant to pay teachers’ salaries.
Kauffman said they asked TEA for $360,000 to pay teachers and to purchase equipment for the science labs and physical education classes. The school needs a letter by today from TEA ensuring they will deposit the grant funds otherwise they won’t be able to give the teachers their first pay check on Friday.
For the past month, teachers and staff have been working for free and have been waiting on that paycheck, Kauffman said.
“I sent an email to the charter school division that I need an answer by [today],” she said. “I’m waiting to hear from them.”
If they don’t receive an answer from the TEA, Kauffman said she doesn’t know what will happen.
“They have the money,” she said. “They have it from the federal government. We’re just waiting on them to disperse it to the schools that need it.”
Kauffman said five charter schools in Texas, including KLA, opened this school year. Since they don’t have a parent company or private funding, they must wait on grant funding.
“We have a bank that’s willing to give us a line of credit, but not until TEA has been able to ensure they will give us some money,” she said.
Heather Mauzé, TEA director of the Division of Charter School Administration, said the type of grant KLA applied for was a competitive grant. The grant application is received once the application has been vetted by the grant’s administration staff.
The grants have not been finalized yet, Mauzé said. Once they are finalized the schools will receive a notice that they have received the grant.
Since it is a competitive grant, public charter schools are not assured a certain amount or assured whether they will receive the amount they asked for.
Kauffman said she’s not sure what the future holds, but she hopes her teachers don’t go anywhere.
TEA’s position on the matter leaves KLA at a critical juncture, Kauffman said Tuesday afternoon.
Technically these are competitive grants,” Kauffman said. “But they should have been awarded in May and were delayed because of a disagreement between the state and the Department of Education.”
Kauffman said the school will receive funding from the state through average daily attendance funding on Sept. 25.
The problem, Kauffman said, should TEA not confirm the school’s grant by today is whether the school’s teachers and other employees will stick around.
“I hope we’re not looking at closing down after having done so much work on this,” Kauffman said. “Our teachers are very invested in the school too so we’re hoping for the best but just stuck right now in a critical position.”
For the first year, the school only accepted 150 sixth- through 10th-graders, but only has 60 students as of right now. Within five years, Kauffman hopes to add 11th, 12th and fifth grade to the school. Each class has 15 students per teacher. Classes are held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday with 200 days in the calender year.
For more information about the school, visit www.klacademy.org or email Theresa Kauffman at kauffman@klacademy.org or Greg Kauffman at gkauffman@klacademy.org.