Missouri's charter oversight agency returns unspent fees to schools it monitors

According to the reporting, the Missouri Charter Public School Commission, which collects a state-mandated fee from the charter schools it sponsors, ended last fiscal year with nearly $3.3 million in reserves after spending $1.4 million and taking in $2.5 million. Rather than sit on the surplus, the commission voted to send $685,000 back to individual schools, with grants ranging from $10,000 to $70,000, marking the third such rebate in recent years. School leaders said the unrestricted funds will go toward field trips, enrichment and staffing. It's a small but concrete model for how a state oversight body can run efficiently and return unused fees rather than expand its own budget.