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Consultants say East Stroudsburg overpaid charter tuition by $1.5 million; district seeks recovery
Summary
An independent review found the district used the wrong year’s expenditure data on the PDE-363 charter tuition form, causing an estimated $1.5 million overpayment to charter schools in 2024–25. Administration corrected the form and notified the Pennsylvania Department of Education and charter operators to seek reimbursement.
District financial consultants told the East Stroudsburg Area School District board that an accounting error led to an estimated $1.5 million overpayment to charter schools in the current year.
Jim Mirabelli, the consultant retained to review district finances, said the district had used 2024–25 expenditure figures instead of 2023–24 on the PDE‑363 charter tuition calculation. “What we did was we corrected the form as soon as we found it, and we sent it out to PDE and the charter schools to look to recover those funds,” Mirabelli said.
Why it matters: charter tuition payments are calculated from the district’s prior-year spending figures; a higher reported per‑pupil expenditure increases the amount owed to charter operators. Mirabelli told the board the error inflated the district’s 2024–25 charter tuition total by roughly $1,500,000.
Mirabelli said the district revised the PDE‑363, returned corrected calculations to the Pennsylvania Department of Education and to the affected charter schools, and expected to recover the overpayment. After the correction, the consultant projected the district’s charter-school spending for the current year would still be above the original budget but lower by the recovery amount. He also warned the board that projected charter costs for 2025–26 could reach roughly $11,050,000 absent enrollment changes or state tuition relief, an upward revision of more than $1.5 million compared with preliminary estimates.
Board members asked several clarifying questions about how the PDE‑363 is calculated and whether the mistake reflected a systemic process issue. Mirabelli and business office staff described the error as a data-selection mistake and told the board they would follow up with PDE and charter operators.
The board directed administration to continue pursuing recovery and to include updated charter tuition estimates in future budget reports to the board.
