Charter school principal got paid $824K; only $324K was spent on instruction. 180 students. [View all]

[HiPointDem]

An Orange County charter school that gave its principal a $519,000 departure payout was an academic failure that struggled to provide its students with basic materials and qualified teachers, an evaluation by the school district shows.

In 2011-12, NorthStar High School's directors paid Principal Kelly Young more than twice as much money as they spent on the school's educational program.

Including her annual salary, bonuses and payout, Young took home at least $824,000 in taxpayer money that year, not including payments she continues to receive for winding down the school's operations.

By comparison, the school spent $366,042 on instruction, including teacher salaries, last school year, according to an audit paid for by the school...NorthStar's lavish payment to their principal was not an isolated instance. In 2010-11, when Young's contract called for $305,000 in pay, the school spent $372,009 on instruction. Her pay made up a third of the school's budget that year.

The school lacked computers, a library or cafeteria services at its facility in concrete portables on Curry Ford Road. According to the January report by Orange County Public Schools, the school's reading teacher was not certified in reading and NorthStar didn't have someone certified to teach English language-learners.

The school, which operated for 11 years, was never an academic standout. It's last grade from the state was a D, but it was losing ground last year... A February letter signed by Young accused the district of denying the school's request to be evaluated on a less rigorous standard because they served a struggling population, and of "being set up to fail."

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-10-25/features/os-troubled-orange-charter-northstar-20121025_1_charter-school-charter-law-english-language-learners

Florida...

So the cost of educating each student was $6377, but only $1800 went to instruction -- the rest was the principal's pay.