The Lake Havasu Unified School District might have to pay the state back $100,000 to $250,000 because last year some students didn't get the minimum amount of class time required by law.
Most Lake Havasu high-school students have six class periods. But some seniors have shorter schedules because they’ve excelled academically, enrolled in outside vocational programs, or took summer school.
Initial results of an audit found those on a shorter schedule don’t get the minimum amount of class time required by state law.
Assemblies and early releases caused the shortfall, but learning has not suffered, Superintendent Diana Asseier said.
“We’re a very high performing district,” Asseier said. “Our schools were all A and B schools, and so there certainly hasn’t been an impact on our students’ performance based on this.”
As a rural district with declining enrollment, Asseier said having to pay back the state would be “quite significant.”
To make up time lost this fall, high-school students in Lake Havasu will have longer school days when they start the spring semester.
“We have the same schedule for '16-'17 and so we needed to correct our '16-'17 schedule so that we would not be short minutes,” Asseier said.
