Hartland Schools Reach Settlement w/ State Over Online EnrollmentHartland Schools Reach Settlement w/ State Over Online Enrollment

3/22/14 - The Hartland Consolidated Schools district has proved successful in settling a dispute with the state education department involving student enrollment in its online learning program. The district operates the Hartland Virtual Academy and the settlement is tied to the district’s fall 2012 student count. It’s required to submit program memberships to the state to receive funding but there’s an associated audit process that takes place and is conducted by the Livingston Educational Service Agency, which removed 21 full time equivalency or FTE memberships from their account. Hartland Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations Scott Bacon says they disagreed with the audit and appealed first to the Michigan Department of Education but were denied. The district eventually successfully appealed to the state superintendent’s office, gaining back 18 of the 21 memberships that should amount to $115,000 in revenue. Bacon tells WHMI the settlement suggests that they were substantially correct in their assessment of whether those memberships should have counted or not. While it wasn’t a brand new program at the time, the state was in the process of enlarging it so a lot of information was new to Hartland and other schools. Bacon says the district felt a lot of the instructions were vague but made every effort to interpret them and comply, which he feels was backed up by the settlement. Bacon added that in the year after this came up, the current 2013/2014 school year, the state made revisions and changed the directions provided to local districts that were more clear, which he says was one of their arguing points in the appeal. Hartland could see the money within 60 days and Bacon says it certainly wasn’t something the district had planned on or budgeted for but will come in handy with offsetting all of the costs associated with the harsh winter such as heating, salting, plowing and overtime. He says the Board of Education must still finalize the settlement, which is expected during Monday night’s meeting. (JM)