Press Releases

WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL), House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) sent a letter to New York State Education Department (NYSED) Commissioner Betty A. Rosa requesting information related to reports that NYSED is refusing to reimburse $1.5 million to Success Academy charter school due to a singular typographical error in an approximately 300-page reimbursement submission. 
 
In the letter, the lawmakers write: “Recently, we have received concerning reports that the New York State Education Department (NYSED) has refused to reimburse $1.5 million to Success Academy based solely on a simple typographical error. … On October 26 and November 2, 2023, Success Academy made two Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) reimbursement submissions to NYSED. Based on those submissions, we are unaware of any reason permissible under ESSER for that rejection of $1.5 million of expenses.”
 
The lawmakers continue: “Success Academy subsequently made a third submission at NYSED’s request, as a courtesy. … In this third submission, Success Academy inadvertently listed the overall dates of reimbursement as ‘3/1/2020 - 12/31/2020’ rather than ‘3/13/2020 - 12/31/2020.’ The omission of the ‘3’ in the starting date range was an error that was trivial and obvious – Success Academy did not claim any reimbursements between 3/1 and 3/13. … Unfortunately, it appears that Deputy Commissioner Christina Coughlin is using this typo as a basis to disallow all of Success Academy’s expenses incurred in 2020. Given the time-sensitive nature of this disallowance, we ask that you quickly review Deputy Commissioner Coughlin’s ruling.”
 
The lawmakers conclude by requesting answers to the following: 

• Should Deputy Commissioner Coughlin’s ruling be found to be in error, can you guarantee that Success Academy will be reimbursed for the full amount due to it?
• NYSED’s March 15 letter to Success Academy claims that Success Academy’s submission is “missing required dates or included dates outside of the allowable project period.” Aside from the aforementioned typo, please provide an itemized list of the $1.5 million in expenses Success Academy is claiming that fall outside the legally allowed dates.
• NYSED’s March 15 letter to Success Academy claims that the reasons for the disallowed reimbursement were “more substantive” than a simple typo. Please explain these reasons in detail. 
• In NYSED’s March 15 letter, the first bullet point under “circumstances necessitat[ing] the disallowance” notes that Success Academy submitted final fiscal reports “on” – not “after” – the deadline. Please explain, including with a specific citation, the governing statute(s) or regulation(s) that require final fiscal reports submitted on a deadline to be disallowed for reimbursement. 
• In NYSED’s March 15 letter, the second bullet point under “circumstances necessitat[ing] the disallowance” alleges that Success Academy’s submission “did not contain all required pages.” Please explain in detail the specific pages required by governing law (along with a specific citation to the governing statute(s) or regulation(s)) that Success Academy did not submit at any point. 

To read the full letter, click here.

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