- 23 -
reasonableness of the amounts; and purported loans to the founder
showing a ready private source of credit. Nearly all of these
factors are present here.
Express findings of fact from the SBOE proceeding provide a
vivid encapsulation of the evidence contained in the record on
these topics and are worth quoting at some length:
Creation, Implementation and Review of the School’s
Budget by the Board of Directors; General Oversight of
the School
* * * * * * *
8. By failing to adopt as a current and legally
adequate budget, RSSAT’s governing board failed in its
duty to provide oversight, direction, supervision, and
control over the administration of the school as
required by the charter. Further, as a result of this
failure, Ms. Fennell has exercised budget authority for
the school without the oversight and direction of the
board of directors as required by the charter.
* * * * * * *
Compensation of Ms. Fennell; Other Questionable
Financial Transactions
11. While RSSAT’s board approved a salary of
$5,000.00 per month for Ms. Fennell as the school
administrator, the school’s payroll journal showed
salary amounts in excess of $5,000.00 per month. In
November 1998, December 1998 and January 1999,
Ms. Fennell was paid $8,000.00, $11,857.00 and
$10,000.00 respectively. Although Ms. Fennell asserted
that the excess amounts were awarded as reimbursement
for money that she had loaned the school, the
documentation that she personally presented to TEA in
support of her claim had clearly been altered. For
example, dates on checks had been changed to correspond
to the appropriate time period and invoices were
altered to reflect higher amounts. Further, there is
no documentation that the board of directors authorized
the payment of additional amounts of salary.
Page: Previous 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Next
Last modified: November 10, 2007