DOVER, Del. (AP) - Members of the legislature's budget-writing committee have rejected a Democratic lawmaker's request to stop allowing charter schools to keep unspent student transportation funds.
For the past several years, charter schools have been allow to keep the money if their actual costs for student transportation are lower than their state allotment. The goal is to encourage charter schools, whose state share of transportation fund has decreased by about $1.3 million in recent years, to negotiate better contracts.
But Rep. John Kowalko, a Newark Democrat, says the budget provision violates state alw and allows charter schools to spend money with no accountability.
Members of the Joint finance committee voted Tuesday to keep the provision, but they did add language to specifiy that any leftover money must be spent on educational purposes.
