Six that owe overpaid aid or occupancy permits told to comply or else

Madison - Taking a tougher stance on Milwaukee school choice this fall, the state Department of Public Instruction has told six schools it will withhold their initial aid payments if they fail to comply with state rules by Sept. 28.

Four schools have yet to send the state copies of occupancy permits, issued by the City of Milwaukee, to show their buildings meet health and safety codes for schools. Sending DPI a copy of the permit is a new requirement this year.

Two other schools must refund money because of overpayments made by the state last year. Other schools have been paid too much in the past, but this is the first time DPI has demanded refunds from them.

State superintendent of schools John Benson sent registered letters this week to all six schools, demanding either a refund of the overpayments from the two schools or a copy of the occupancy certificate from the others, and a spokesman said failure to comply could force some schools to close.

"If we do not receive the money back from the two, or if the others do not comply with the occupancy permits, they will not be receiving aid payments on the 28th," DPI spokesman Greg Doyle said.

The vast majority of the schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program have complied with the state regulations. The six schools represent about 5% of the 114 schools participating this year in the program, which lets children from low-income families attend private schools, including religious schools, at state expense. About 10,000 children are enrolled in the program this year.

In the case of one of the six schools under DPI scrutiny, Sensas-Utcha Institute of Holistic Learning, at 2470 W. Keefe Ave., the city had no record of the school applying for a certificate of occupancy.

According to DPI, the school's administrator, William Perry, said he would have 131 choice students in the school, which is new this year. For each full-time student, qualifying schools are to receive $5,326 from the state this year, made in four installments starting Sept. 28.

However, the building at the Sensas-Utcha address is a single-family house, a 1,200-square foot, three-bedroom home built in 1903 and assessed at $37,500, according to Martin Collins, commissioner of neighborhood services in the city's Building Inspection Department.

"There's just no way that you could have 130 kids in it," Collins said. "There's got to be another building somewhere with the school in it."

Efforts to reach Perry by phone were unsuccessful. In checking his computer files by building address, Martin said the only thing to appear at that address was a request for a construction permit last year for improvements estimated at $500.

No one answered the door at the home when a reporter visited it on Wednesday afternoon. None of the residents in the area - including next-door neighbors on both sides of the house - said they ever saw students coming or going from the house.

The other schools lacking certificates of occupancy were:

Immanuel Christian Academy, 2009 S. 19th St., which has an enrollment of 48 students in kindergarten and first grade this fall. Administrator Rosemary Dye said she had applied for a permit, but a city inspector wanted the school to enclose a stairway and tear down a wall to meet the fire safety code. Victory Preparatory Academy, 3132 N. King Drive, which has 42 students in kindergarten through third grade this fall. Administrator Jonathan Saffold was not available, but another school official, Bonnie Langston, said the school had done everything necessary to get a permit, including recently installing a fire alarm. The city has only to inspect it, and the school should get its permit, she said. Woodson Academy, which has moved from 3027 N. Fratney St. to a former Catholic school at 5510 W. Blue Mound Road and has 308 students. Administrator Dennis Alexander could not be reached for comment. However, Collins said a temporary permit was issued Wednesday for the building and a permanent certificate would be issued soon.

The two schools that owe DPI refunds are:

Blyden Delany Academy, 2466 W. McKinley Ave., which has 83 elementary students. The DPI first told the school on Jan. 4 that it must repay $11,030. The school made a partial payment and still owes $7,358. Administrator Taki Raton said Wednesday that payment would be made in full today. Holy Redeemer Christian Academy, 3500 W. Mother Daniels Way, which has 83 students. DPI has demanded a return of $15,390 in overpayments last year. Administrator Alton Townsel could not be reached for comment, but an assistant said Wednesday she believed Townsel had settled the matter.

"This amounts to a last chance," Doyle said of the deadline the six schools face in refunding money or filing occupancy permits. "If these items cannot be resolved, or are not resolved by the 28th, they will not get a check. And in the case of a number of schools, it probably means they will have to dissolve. I don't know which ones."

Dye, the administrator at Immanuel Christian, questioned whether the DPI's inquiry was aimed at undermining the program.

"There are so many people that are against the choice program," she said. "We're in a very impoverished area on the south side, and the problems are too big for us to change as a church on the adult level. But we figure if we can lay a solid foundation, in the children, that they will have some chances."

Dye said that forgoing the initial choice payment next week would hurt, but the school would survive.

Registered letters went to three other schools for failure to provide DPI occupancy permits. However, all three had complied by Wednesday. Catholic East Elementary provided a permanent permit, and Academic Solutions Center for learning and Alex's Academic of Excellence provided temporary permits.

Jamaal Abdul-Alim of the Journal Sentinel staff, reporting from Milwaukee, contributed to this report.