Stiff Sentence Urged in Theft Of Charter Funds

¿ 90 percent of the nearly 300 students at Booker T. Washington Public Charter School were below proficiency in reading in 2005.

¿ 86 percent of the more than 200 students at Young America Works school were below proficiency in mathematics in 2006.

Deputy Mayor Victor Reinoso also wrote a statement for Urbina on behalf of the city, urging a stiff sentence. Students in board charters could have had a tangibly improved classroom experience if Belton had not siphoned off public funds, Reinoso wrote.

"[T]he charter schools could have hired 17 additional teachers or specialists for the year," he wrote. "They could have purchased an additional 17,000 textbooks or instructional DVDs for the students. They could have paid for thousands of hours of professional development for teachers."

Ramona H. Edelin, executive director of the charter-advocacy group D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, disputed that Belton was negligent in her oversight.

"Many of the school leaders with whom I've had conversations said . . . she had been responsive and helpful, and they did not feel they were not being monitored," Edelin said in an interview yesterday.

Norman Johnson, executive director of Integrated Design and Electronics Academy Public Charter School (IDEA) in Northeast Washington, agreed that Belton was helpful. But he said he later learned that Belton had neglected to provide the school much-needed services. Johnson said he learned last year that a company, which prosecutors later said was run by Belton, received $76,250 to train math and reading teachers in boosting student achievement, services Johnson said the school never received.

"It was devastating to us and our staff" to learn about the phony invoices, Johnson said yesterday. The training "would have been very helpful. Our school [made academic targets] in reading and was close to making it in math. Those resources would have helped push us over the top."

The investigation of Belton in part prompted the board to give up its authority to open charter schools, leaving them to be absorbed by the city's second charter authorizer, the independent D.C. Public Charter School Board; that board now has oversight of all 56 charter schools in the city.

Staff writer V. Dion Haynes contributed to this report.