KIPP schools get salary amendment

KIPP Delta Public Schools, a charter school system headquartered in Helena-West Helena, can spend state categorical aid on salaries for curriculum specialists and data coaches who don’t have Arkansas teacher licenses.

The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday approved the amendment to the school system’s state charter. The amendment is a waiver of state law that allows National School Lunch Aid to be used for salaries of instruction specialists and data coaches if those employees hold state educator licenses.

National School Lunch aid is a state funding program for school districts, the amount of which going to a district is determined by the percentage of students in the system who qualify for subsidized school meals because of their family income.

Scott Shirey, chief executive officer for the KIPP Delta system, told the Education Board that the relatively new law restricting the use of categorical funds was causing his district to draw from operating funds — which are needed for other expenses — to pay for a longtime specialist in the KIPP system.

Previously the district used the categorical funding for the specialist salary, he said, a practice he said he wanted to continue.

Board member Diane Zook of Melbourne questioned whether the unlicensed specialist could be a reason for a decline in the state-issued letter grades for KIPP Delta’ s two high schools. Shirey said there was no correlation between the longtime specialist and the recent drop in letter grades for some KIPP schools.