Topeka ? The Kansas State Department of Education has issued $32,000 in federal grant funds to individuals and groups in recent weeks to help start charter schools, according to state records.

“The agency has provided assistance in the past with staff on board, but our determination was that we needed to provide more assistance than in the past,” said Deputy Education Commissioner Larry Englebrick, who is in charge of the school innovation division.

Earlier this year, charter schools were at the center of a debate on the Kansas State Board of Education, and at least one board member is concerned about the recent grant recipients.

“I have not been able to find any connection between these people (who received grants) and a school district,” said board member Sue Gamble, a Republican from Shawnee. She noted that some of the grant recipients were from out of state.

Charter assistance

Those receiving the grants are supposed to help groups in Kansas petition local school boards to start charter schools.

There are 26 charter schools in Kansas. The schools generally are focused on a certain population of students, such as those who have had trouble in a traditional school setting.

Education Commissioner Bob Corkins, with backing from the six-member conservative majority on the State Board of Education, has been a vocal supporter of charter schools.

Local schools boards have the final say on whether to grant a charter.

Corkins and the six conservative board members tried to get that changed during the last legislative session to give organizations wanting to start a charter school the ability to appeal to the State Board of Education if the local school board denied the charter.

Supporters of the change said it would ensure that local school boards dealt in good faith with those presenting charter school proposals. Opponents said it was a nonstarter to allow a charter school that is at odds with the local school district.

The Legislature rejected the measure.

Grant recipients

Now the state education department has put together a “vendor” list of consultants for organizations wanting technical assistance to start a charter.

Each of the vendors received a grant of $1,995. Sixteen vendors were given grants, according to the education department.

Gamble noted that two of the recipients list the same address in Alpharetta, Ga.

There was no phone listing for the couple at the address provided by the education department. But Englebrick said he had met with them and that he was confident they would provide service support.

Education department officials said they discovered this summer they had to expend the federal grant funds quickly or lose them due to an oncoming deadline.

They said they solicited grant applications and reviewed them all before awarding funds. None of the vendors who submitted applications before the Aug. 21 deadline was rejected, department officials said.

“These are just apparently individuals who walked off the street and said, ‘We like charter schools, can you give us some money?'” Gamble said.

One of the grant recipients, Betty Horton of Topeka, tried to start a charter school in 2000 in Topeka and was turned down.

But department officials said they were confident in the quality of the grant recipients.

Englebrick said interest in starting charter schools in Kansas had increased. A recent workshop on charter schools attracted 10 to 15 school districts and organizations, he said.

“We have stressed the importance of working together with the local school district,” he said.