The founder of Impact Charter School in Baker is accused of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school and a related private foundation to pay for personal travel, a car lease and work done on her house.
In a long-awaited released Monday, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office uncovered evidence Impact's founder Chakesha Scott made extensive use of the charter school's money for her personal benefit.
The auditors found evidence of a potential kickback scheme with a school contractor and questioned Scott’s decision to divert more than $1.5 million to Friends of Impact Charter School. That's the name of a private philanthropic foundation that Scott also leads. It is supposed to support the school financially, but auditors say it has never done so.
The state auditors claim Scott made some of these transactions either without informing the board of directors for the charter school or misled board members.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has referred the findings from its 173-page audit report to East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore’s Office and to the office of Middle District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Ronald Gathe Jr. The district attorney and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted with the investigation.
Moore said Monday Gathe's office is handling this investigation going forward. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said as a policy the office is prohibited from confirming, denying, or otherwise commenting on any potential ongoing investigations.
Ronnie Morris, president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, said in a statement the allegations in the report are "alarming and disappointing" and "not representative" of the larger public education community in the state. Morris said he's calling a special meeting as soon as possible to see what options the education board has "to fully address the allegations raised in the report and ensure continuous operations at this school."
"This audit report is an unfortunate reminder that good intentions must also always comply with public meeting laws, sound accounting practices, and the highest ethical standards," Morris said.
In a statement Monday, Impact Charter School disputed the accuracy of the audit, saying every financial transaction the school made "has been board-approved, legally compliant and fully documented."
"The findings in the report are not supported by factual evidence and present a distorted view of Impact Charter School’s financial and operational practices," according to the statement.
The school in north Baton Rouge says it will be taking unspecified "legal action to protect the integrity of our school and ensure due process."
The group that operates the charter school is Education Explosion Inc., which Scott founded in 2009 and serves as its chief executive officer. She founded it with her husband, Eric Scott. He is also the Impact charter school's principal. Auditors say he benefited from his wife's spending, but they lodge no accusations against him personally.
Charter school leader rebuts findings
Attorney Ronald Haley, representing Education Explosion, issued a 17-page rebuttal that was included with the audit. Charter schools are public schools that operate privately via charters, or contracts.
“While we respect the importance of oversight and accountability, this report contains significant mischaracterizations, speculative conclusions, and findings that lack sufficient evidentiary support," according to the written rebuttal.
Haley said much of what auditors got wrong was in failing to treat the Friends of Impact Charter School as a purely private entity whose activities should be outside the scope of such a state audit.
The audit found Scott used charter school money for herself in a variety of ways:
- $166,520 in charter school funds to lease and/or purchase vehicles for personal use.Â
- $130,494 for personal travel expenses for herself, her husband, and her daughter.
- $129,493 for expenses and improvements to a non-school building that at one point was owned by Scott’s mother, Marilyn Webb.
- $111,153 for work on Scott’s personal residence.
- $88,607 from her school credit card for items “that appeared to be personal in nature.â€
The audit also includes evidence the company that cleans the charter school, Friendly Finishing Maintenance Company LLC, paid Scott potential kickbacks of $50,625 and perhaps more.
In fiscal year 2023, the last year reported, Scott made $211,747 a year in base salary and $241,369 in total compensation. That's more than the pay received by most of the superintendents leading traditional school districts in Louisiana, all of them larger than Impact Charter School.
The state audit first came to light in May when, pursuant to a search warrant, auditors visited the 4815 Lavey Lane school campus to seize documents and electronic devices. According to the audit, the search warrant was prompted in part by Scott's refusal to give auditors some previously requested records, arguing that they belonged to the school's private foundation.
The audit's revelation last year slowed down what would have otherwise been an automatic renewal of the charter for Impact Charter School, which has a B academic letter grade.
The school's charter was renewed last month for six more years, but the operating contract between the state's elementary and secondary education board and the school stipulated “pending any investigative findings determined by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.â€
The school in December unsuccessfully sued that education board to try to force an earlier decision on its charter renewal.Â
Ties to private foundation
Auditors detail at length Impact Charter's close and unorthodox relationship with its private foundation, Friends of Impact Charter School.
The foundation was run by Scott's sister, Philana Square, had its own board of directors, leased space on the school campus and made mortgage payments for the property on which the charter school sits. Bank records obtained by state auditors, however, list no instances of the foundation donating any money to the school.
However, lots of money, almost all of it taxpayer funds, went the other way. Auditors calculated that 93% of the $2.8 million deposited into the foundation's bank accounts over a seven-year period came from Education Explosion, the group that operates Impact Charter.
About $1.2 million of that $2.8 million was for mortgage payments on school property, which auditors describe as "excessive." Another $458,200 came from a federal Payment Protection Program loan approved for Education Explosion.
The foundation also received a $200,000 consulting fee from Red River Charter Academy, a charter school in Avoyelles Parish that closed last year. The fee was paid as part of a plan, never realized, to turn the Mansura school, which is located more than 60 miles away, into a remote "learning pod" operating under Impact's charter.
And auditors say that "at least" $70,521 of money received by the foundation "appears" to have been used for the personal benefit of Chakesha Scott and her family.
Questionable construction work
Meanwhile, records show contractor, Sam Green & Sons Construction, was simultaneously doing construction work at the school and on the Scotts' home.
Auditors say that it “appears†Green may have overbilled the school for work on a classroom building, which was largely built by another contractor, and then used $105,997 to install an in-ground swimming pool and do other work at the Scott residence. The company that takes care of the lawn at Impact Chart School was paid $5,156 in school money for landscaping at Scott's house.
Auditors found evidence to suggest additional kickbacks.
According to bank records obtained by auditors, Nathaniel Harrison, who works for Friendly Finishing Maintenance Company, withdrew nearly $200,000 from payments it received from Education Explosion. Text messages obtained by auditors “suggest (Harrison) then made cash payments to Ms. Scott.â€
The $130,494 in alleged personal travel stems from charges Scott made to “her Education Explosion credit card†for 20 trips taken between October 2021 and July 2023 by Scott, her husband and her daughter, Courtney Scott.
Expenses ranged from $709 for a trip to Chicago to $37,481 for a 17-day European trip to Paris, London, England and Amsterdam, with a stop at Disneyland Paris.
The school’s approved travel budget for Chakesha Scott and her husband that period, however, totaled only $16,400.
“Education Explosion did not maintain documentation to support the purpose of these trips, and many of the travel expenses appear to be entirely personal in nature,†according to the audit.
Attorney Haley called the alleged misspending as also inaccurate because that credit card was actually Chakesha Scott’s personal credit card.
“Education Explosion has no financial responsibility or ownership related to this card,†Haley wrote in the rebuttal.
Haley also said auditors ignored documentation showing the professional purpose behind these trips. For instance, the visit to Disneyland Paris “included structured leadership training, curriculum development and networking sessions, with an itinerary dedicated to over 24 hours of professional sessions."
