Audit: NC charter school falsified student records, misused school funding
A new investigative report from the Office of the State Auditor states a North Carolina charter school falsified student records and misused school funding.
Posted — UpdatedThe report indicates the state auditor's office received tips through its hotline accusing Bridges Academy of questionable tax reporting, using school funds to support a preschool and over reporting student enrollment to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Key findings from the state auditor's investigation include:
- Bridges Academy falsified student enrollment records to obtain $404,971 in state funding for which it otherwise would not qualify.
- Bridges Academy misused $78,576 of charter school funding to support a preschool.
- Bridges Academy failed to prepare and submit required 1099 tax forms in 2019 and 2020, resulting in underreported compensation of $489,534.\
The state auditor said the DPI should seek repayment for the misused funds.
Bridges Academy, which is located in State Road, Wilkes County, near the Virginia line, closed in June. Before it closed, the school enrolled 171 students in kindergarten through eighth grades for the 2021-22 academic year.
In a letter to parents, school representatives said they’d been looking at “rebuilding” the school’s leadership team, starting in April, using an outside consultant.
That consultant, in a review, found “irregularities within the school’s operations,” the letter states. Soon after, the State Auditor's Office began a separate investigation into the school.
Bridges Academy opened in 1996 and is one of the oldest charter schools in the state.
WRAL education reporter Emily Walkenhorst contributed to this report.
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