About 99 students in Canton could lose their school by August if the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board agrees to revoke its charter.
At a May 14 hearing, an attorney for the board argued that SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy should lose its charter because leadership mismanaged the school, particularly its finances, violating state law and its contract.
Tamu Green, the school’s founder and chief executive officer, contended that mistakes were made because his staff lacked promised training and technical support from the charter board. He said he didn’t know all the relevant federal and state requirements.
Tamu Green, founder and CEO of SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy, confers with Dorlisa Hutton, chief operations officer and vice president for SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy, during a hearing about the charter school on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today“It’s a guessing game a little bit,” Green said of finalizing the school’s financial paperwork by the close of the fiscal year.
“I mean, my unwritten rule was we just spent,” he said. And he didn’t know that financial paperwork had to “look really good” by the end of the fiscal year.
Hearing officer Kim Turner, who regularly serves as the State Agencies director at the attorney general’s office, will recommend whether SR1 CPSA should keep its charter. If Turner recommends revoking the charter — and if the authorizer board accepts her recommendation — SR1 CPSA would become the first charter school the state forces to close.
The board’s main concerns about SR1 CPSA involve school spending, accounting and money management. The school has received over $2 million in local and state tax dollars since it opened to students in August 2023.
How did school leaders spend taxpayers’ dollars?
The board voted in December to start the process of shutting down the school in part because it had one day’s cash on hand — $24,000. The board requires charter schools to have enough money available to cover 30 to 60 days of operations.
Jamie Travis, an attorney for SR1 CPSA, said school leadership never missed payments.
He also argued that the school now has $600,000 in the bank, which he said was evidence it is financially viable.
But Tolliver McMullen, a certified fraud examiner and public accountant who was an expert witness for the authorizer board, testified that money in the bank doesn’t alleviate all concerns about the school’s finances — how the money is spent and whether school officials can account for their spending are important factors, too.
A sign for SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy is shown Thursday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Canton. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodaySR1 CPSA leaders spent around $800,000 in a year when the school had about 15 students, he said. That breaks down to roughly $53,000 spent per student in its first year, or roughly five times the amount that Canton Public School District spent per student in 2023-24.
The state also raised questions about how the school’s leaders documented their spending, such as $55,080 in Amazon purchases charged to two credit cards. School officials had not disclosed the credit cards to the state as required.
“The issue is that SR1 lacked clean, complete, readily verifiable documentation with the oversight required,” said Dillon Pitts, the attorney representing the state charter authorizer board.
READ MORE: Financial shortfall may cost Canton school its charter
The charter authorizer board also noted concerns that SR1 CPSA has experienced significant turnover in its business office since it opened in 2023. The school has a different business manager since the charter board started investigating in earnest in December.
Green and his team did not provide all documentation on the contractors from whom they buy cafeteria food, lease student transportation and acquire equipment at the school, according to Pitts.
Green told the charter authorizer board that the documents belong to SR1 (Scientific Research), a nonprofit organization Green owns, which has a separate governing board and is not under the board’s purview, according to Pitts. But Pitts argued that SR1 signed a contract with the charter authorizer board and is also subject to board monitoring. Several school leaders failed to provide the board with statements of economic interest, which disclose whether school contract money goes to companies they have a financial interest in.
Hearing officer Kim Turner asks questions during a hearing about SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayGreen said his impact should not just be measured by numbers.
“Unfortunately, I look at people as people. I don’t look at this monetary value,” Green said of his school’s past budgeting.
State questions school officials’ compliance with federal laws related to students with disability and food service
Pitts said the board also has evidence that SR1 CPSA leaders also violated federal guidelines that ensure safe food for students and classroom accommodations for students with disabilities. Pitts submitted the documentation to the hearing officer for review.
A food services provider inspected the cafeteria and found portion sizes, food temperature and nutritional values were out of compliance with federal standards, Pitts said. Food safety reports were missing, too. Staff members were eating meals intended for students without paying.
SR1 CPSA is one of two charter schools that operate their own cafeterias. Most charter schools partner with a local school district or the Mississippi Department of Education.
Another inspection of records revealed that seven out of 11 Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, were missing parent or guardian signatures, according to Pitts. These plans outline how school officials are accommodating a student’s disability.
Jamie Travis, attorney for SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy, listens as Tamu Green, the charter school’s CEO, answers questions during a hearing on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayDorlisa Hutton, chief operating officer at SR1 and vice president of SR1 CPSA, said the state education department didn’t find any instances of noncompliance in the school’s special education department. That’s because the agency has not monitored those records yet, said Jean Cook, an Education Department spokesperson.
The struggle to enroll students in an underserved community
Student enrollment also ties into some of the financial troubles of SR1 CPSA. The school has fallen short of its enrollment goals for three consecutive years. Green delayed opening the school twice because he couldn’t enroll enough students.
Despite that recent history, Green said he anticipates a significant enrollment jump: from around 99 students to 300 by July.
“We want this thing to grow,” Green said of his future plans for his school. “I really am blessed that families still trust in us to say, ‘Hey, like the old spiritual: we’re going to be all right.’”
Public schools receive funding from the state Education Department based on how many students school leadership intends to enroll for the upcoming year. The department recoups the money for the students not enrolled the following year, which hurt SR1 CPSA financially.
By overprojecting enrollment in previous years, SR1 CPSA received much more state funding than it would otherwise. But the Education Department requires charter schools to repay money they received for overprojected enrollment. SR1 CPSA had overspent its revenue for both years of operation, which caused the school to enter its second year with a negative cash flow.
It’s difficult to open a school in an underserved community like Canton because building trust with locals takes time, Green said during the hearing. “Generational trauma” also makes recruiting students difficult, he said.
Dillon Pitts, attorney for the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board, right, questions Letitia Johnson, the board’s finance director, during a hearing about SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Jackson. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayGreen said his school should get another opportunity to improve its financial reporting and management because the board didn’t offer technical support in preparing financial paperwork and other services. Pitts, the attorney for the authorizer board, argued that the school had been offered assistance and already been given another chance.
Pitts told the hearing officer that the authorizer board moved to shutter SR1 CPSA in its first semester in 2023 after it enrolled roughly 15 students but requested money to serve 150. The authorizer board didn’t proceed with closing the school in part because SR1 CPSA leaders pledged to improve management.
Turner will next review the hearing transcript in addition to hundreds of documents, which the state charter board argues will prove fiscal mismanagement in violation of state law.
Turner will then issue a recommendation on whether to revoke the school’s charter. Charter board members have the final vote on whether to accept the recommendation and effectively shutter the school.
Travis indicated plans to appeal the case to the Hinds County Chancery Court, which could keep the school’s final fate uncertain for longer.
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