Board presses for a recommendation on Canton charter school’s fate ...Middle East

The Mississippi Charter Authorizer Board wants a recommendation by Wednesday on whether to revoke the charter of SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy so it can vote on the matter on Oct. 26. 

The board voted unanimously on Monday to ask that Kim Turner, the attorney general’s director of the state agencies division, produce a status update by Wednesday. The board also asked to get Turner’s recommendation on whether to revoke the school’s charter by Oct. 9. That deadline will give attorneys for the school and the authorizer board two weeks to send additional responses. Then, at its October meeting, the board will vote on whether to accept Turner’s recommendation.

Without Turner’s recommendation, the board can’t act.

Turner served as the hearing officer in May when attorneys for the board and the school argued their respective cases for whether SR1 should keep its charter. If Turner recommends revoking the charter — and if the authorizer board accepts her recommendation — SR1 would become the first charter school the state forces to close.

Without a decision about its charter, some of SR1’s funding is at risk.

Mississippi First, a nonprofit that distributes grants to the state’s charter schools, has until Wednesday to approve SR1’s reimbursements for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

Mississippi First has held off on reimbursing SR1’s grant-related expenses since December, when the charter board began the process of revoking the school’s charter. The organization also has not yet communicated with school officials about renewing the grant for the 2026-27 fiscal year, according to Angela Bass, executive director of Mississippi First. 

Bass said she is waiting on an official finding on the school’s fate before she can renew or close out the Charter School Program grant agreement, which provides federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education to open and expand high-quality charter schools. 

Bass asked board members Monday for a decision before the Wednesday grant deadline. 

“As the period of uncertainty continues, the window for SR1 to appropriately use these resources continues to narrow,” Bass wrote in a Sept. 9 email to authorizer board Executive Director Lisa Karmacharya. “This creates a practical concern for all involved.”

Bass said she was in communication with federal programs staff about extending the grant deadline, in case the school keeps its charter.

SR1 is at risk of losing its charter because of alleged severe financial mismanagement by its Chief Executive Officer Tamu Green. The school had one day’s cash on hand during fall 2025 monitoring, its cafeteria failed to meet federal safety guidelines, and leadership didn’t disclose all vendor contracts upon request, according to board attorney Dillon Pitts. 

Meanwhile, Green can seek up to $300,000 per year in reimbursements for school supplies and equipment through the grant administered by Mississippi First. Last year, he was reimbursed for over $50,000 in Chromebook and charging cart purchases, as well as other technology and supplies. Green and his staff said in a Sept. 3 letter to Bass that the purchases will meet “specific instructional and operational needs of the students” this school year. 

When requesting reimbursement for the technology, Green touted the school’s third grader’s 88% pass rate on the state standardized reading test, and a satisfactory monitoring report by Mississippi First staff of school leaders’ prior spending of the grant.

Bass also expressed concern about the impact the delay will have on students at the Canton charter school, whose students may be deprived of the bulk of the federal funding to support their education.

“We’re thinking about the kids who are being served,” Bass told Mississippi Today on Friday. “They have allowed them to open their doors for this year, and it’s really not setting them up for success that they cannot access their funds.”

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