Bell City appeals state finding of illegal aid

~ The superintendent contends that two of 10 students found to live in a neighboring district actually lived in the Bell City district for a time.

Bell City school officials have appealed a finding by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that the district illegally secured more than $19,000 in state aid this school year.

Education commissioner D. Kent King is expected to rule on the appeal before the end of the month. The State Board of Education could ratify the commissioner's decision at its meeting on June 22, DESE spokesman Jim Morris said Friday.

The Bell City School District in Stoddard County enrolled 10 students who reside in the neighboring Scott County Central School District, an investigation by DESE found. The Bell City School District unlawfully obtained more than $19,000 in state aid by reporting those students as residents of their district, state officials said. The state distributes aid to school districts based on the number of students in those districts.

In a May 26 letter to state education commissioner D. Kent King, Bell City schools superintendent Rhonda Niemczyk said she doesn't agree with the agency's findings. But she reported in the letter that the district will only dispute the findings regarding two students, Morris said.

Niemczyk, through a staff member in the school district's central office, refused to comment on the appeal.

In a copy of the letter provided by DESE, Niemczyk wrote that the two students lived in the Bell City School District from Sept. 22, 2004, until Oct. 24, 2005. The students then moved with their parents to Morley, Mo., to take care of the students' grandmother, Niemczyk wrote.

On Jan. 18, the family moved back into the Bell City School District, the superintendent said in her letter.

She enclosed a copy of utility records to support her contention along with a letter from Bell City High School principal Matt Asher.

Asher wrote that both students lived in Bell City in the 2004-2005 school year and at the start of the 2005-2006 school year. The principal reported that he used to drive one of the students home after Junior Babe Ruth baseball practice last summer.

DESE's Morris said the agency will look at the information provided by Niemczyk and could lower the amount of money the district owes the state.

Monthly state aid payments are scheduled to be sent to Missouri's school districts on June 21. "We want to have a resolution before the next state aid payment is made to all school districts," Morris said.

State education officials plan to withhold money from Bell City's June check equal to the amount of illegally obtained state aid.

Given the timetable for state aid payments, Morris said the withholding could occur one day before the state board decided whether to ratify the department's action.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123