Tying loose ends at Horizon

PALMER -- While Horizon Charter School no longer exists, there are still dollars floating around from the school's operating fund and a number of grants the school received for the 2003-2004 school year.

Horizon received two state grants for implementation and planning this year. Jack Sherman, Mat-Su Borough School District assistant superintendent of business, estimated that once all grant transactions are complete, around $16,000 will be left from the grants.

"Anything Horizon didn't spend goes back to the state, we don't have any rights to that," Sherman said.

Horizon will also have around $45,000 left in its operating fund. Sherman said the district will treat the money as it would treat any other charter or traditional school's operating-fund surplus.

"Whatever is left in the operating fund will go into the district's fund balance," Sherman said. "At the end of this fiscal year, half of the fund balance will lapse back to the borough, the other half can be used by the [school] board for whatever next year."

All supplies, computers and equipment from Horizon have been moved to the district's central administration building, where former Horizon teacher Ron Roper is now working through the district's correspondence school Track II program to ensure all Horizon students receive proper credit.

"They [Horizon supplies] will not go out to other schools; everything will be left in the home-school arena," Sherman said. "We want to keep this as clean as possible."