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Pennsylvania Education Department schedules hearing over Phildadelphia district's dispute with charter school | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/24/2010

Pennsylvania Education Department schedules hearing over Phildadelphia district's dispute with charter school | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/24/2010

Pennsylvania Education Department schedules hearing over Phildadelphia district's dispute with charter school

The Pennsylvania Department of Education will wade into a funding and enrollment dispute between the Philadelphia School District and a city charter school.

The department has scheduled a hearing for Thursday to consider funding for the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners high school. The charter has asked the department to divert $1.7 million in district state aid to it for its high school.

The district says it doesn't owe money to the charter because the high school was not approved and Palmer has enrolled more students than the 675 permitted by its operating charter.

The Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Academy, which opened in 2000, has campuses at 910 N. Sixth St. and 1415 N. Broad St.

"The district maintains its position that the charter school acted contrary to its charter agreement and added students which the School Reform Commission did not authorize," district spokesman Fernando Gallard wrote in an e-mailed statement.

Walter D. Palmer, the charter's founder and board president, has said the district owes his school $1.7 million



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100924_Pennsylvania_Education_Department_schedules_hearing_over_Phildadelphia_district_s_dispute_with_charter_school.html#ixzz10YPGnwXU
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