State moves to seize assets of Las Vegas charter school, claims it failed to pay back over $800K in taxpayer money

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A state agency said that a charter school in Las Vegas broke several laws when it failed to pay back more than $800,000 in taxpayer funds.

Earlier this month, the State Public Charter School Authority affirmed its decision during an administrative hearing to shut down Eagle Charter School.

Eagle Charter School opened in August of 2023 to students, pitching itself as another option for families living on the east side of Las Vegas. Yet in less than a year, the State Public Charter School Authority board closed Eagle, citing financial mismanagement.

“For charter schools, the reasons why they fail is due to fiscal mismanagement,” Dr. Megan Griffard, a UNLV professor in education finance, said. Giffard was a witness in the agency’s hearing. “There’s just a lot of debt here and the plan to recoup that debt by massively increasing enrollment is just not realistic.”

In its ruling agency, the board determined that Eagle violated several state laws, mostly stemming from an overpayment the Nevada Department of Education made to Eagle last year of $837,000.

An enrollment audit the SPCSA did in June of 2023 revealed that Eagle had registered about 325 students for the 2023-2024 school year, according to the agency. However, once classes began in August of that year, Eagle’s enrollment was 150 students.

Instead of returning the public money, a fact-finding order issued by SPCSA discovered that Eagle spent it.

“They really want to find a way to get those funds repaid. The only way that they can do that is to remain open. If the school is shut down and not allowed to continue, the [Nevada Department of Education] is not going to get that money back,” Kara Hendricks, Eagle’s attorney, said.

The closure of Eagle Charter impacted about 300 students who were enrolled to attend the 2024-2025 school year. According to Eagle, 26% of those students were considered homeless.

On Friday, the State Public Charter School Authority board will vote on freezing Eagle’s assets until a state administrator can take control of them.

Eagle Charter has been the only school since 2021 that the agency has closed.

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