Does Imagine Prep at Superstition really spend $20,000 per student?
by David Safier
NOTE: Since Imagine School at Superstition made news by firing 11 of its 14 teachers, I've been writing about it, reading up on Imagine Schools and talking to people who know more than I do. This is the third in a series of posts trying to make sense of the nation's largest charter school corporation which has drawn more controversy for its practices and low student achievement scores than any other (Here are the first, second and third posts). What I write may be incomplete or incorrect in places. If you have information to add, please leave comments or email me at safier@schooltales.net. I keep all email correspondence confidential.
In 2011, Imagine Prep at Superstition had about 135 students. The Annual Financial Report it filed with the Arizona Department of Education lists its total expenses as $2,613,219, or $19,357 per student.
That doesn't make sense. Charter schools get about $7,000 per student from the state. Where did the other $12,357 per student come from, and where did it go? The answers to those questions raise a number of other questions about the way Imagine Schools are run and the honesty of their financial reporting.
As you can see in the graphic below taken from its 2011 Annual Financial Report, Imagine Prep at Superstition received $932,819 in revenues from the state in 2011. That comes to a little under $7,000 per student, which makes sense. But it also received $2,075,105 as "Other Revenue," which are itemized as "Contracted Revenue, Facilities, Gain."
(The graphic only shows the two items from the Revenue page. There are a number of smaller items. These two add up to more than the total listed