DCPS says charter schools run by company Cleve Warren chairs are in dire financial state

The Florida Times-Union reports that Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) has serious concerns about the financial condition of four charter schools run by Profectus Learning Systems, a company chaired by Cleve Warren. Warren is the former chairman of the FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT).

According to the newspaper:

Duval County’s four single-gender charter schools ran up $333,000 more in costs than they raised in revenues as of the end of September, which the school district says is evidence that the schools’ finances are deteriorating and are a financial emergency.

The schools — Valor Academy of Leadership, a middle and high school for boys, and Virtue Arts and Science Academy, a middle and high school for girls — have until Dec. 12 to send new financial plans to the district to prove the schools can survive, said Duval Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

Without that, he wrote recently, he may recommend the district terminate its contracts with the schools, effectively shutting them down.

Profectus Learning Systems, the school’s non-profit operator, said it is taking measures to prevent that.

Inadequate enrollment has played a big role in creating the financial problems at the charter schools.

“Our head count wasn’t what we expected it to be,” Warren told the Times-Union.

Back when Warren served as chairman of the FAMU BOT from November to May 2016, he strongly defended then-President Elmira Mangum despite the $9M+ the university lost due to the enrollment decline during her second year (2015-2016). The enrollment drop under Mangum was a key factor in the recent decision by Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade FAMU’s dormitory bond rating.

Mangum left FAMU with a loss of 313 students at the start of the Fall 2016 semester. 

Warren is the CFO of Florida State College at Jacksonville and has held that job since June 17, 2013.

A finding in the 2016 state operational audit for FSCJ by the Florida auditor general stated that “the College did not always timely complete bank account reconciliations.” Another finding in the same audit said “Contrary to Department of Management Services rule and the College’s operating procedures, the College overpaid Florida Retirement System contributions by $12,287 for benefit day payments, totaling $90,994, made to three employees upon their separation from College employment.”

The CFO job description at the FSCJ website says that: “The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) provides executive leadership and guidance for all financial aspects of the College… The CFO is also responsible for ensuring that the College financial reports are accurate and completed on time.”

FSCJ stated that it was working to correct the problems that the state auditors found.

The Florida Board of Governors declined to reappoint Warren to the FAMU BOT on May 12, 2016.