One of Minnesota's worst-performing charter schools is still being run by a director who was leading the school when it fraudulently obtained more than $1 million in taxpayer funds by intentionally inflating the school's attendance.

The Minnesota Internship Center (MNIC), which had four high school campuses in Minneapolis and St. Paul, was sanctioned by the state in 2021 and ordered to repay $1.3 million after an investigation showed MNIC received reimbursement for 137 students who no longer attended the school. MNIC officials acknowledged in court documents that leaders had fabricated attendance records for the 2017-18 school year — and earlier this year told the Minnesota Star Tribune that none of the MNIC officials associated with the fraud were still with the school.

But that's not true. According to interviews with seven former employees and board members, and complaints filed with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the fraud took place under the direction of Reginal Womack, who remains the school's executive director. They say Womack continued with questionable financial practices, including spending hundreds of dollars each month to take employees to Topgolf, all while MNIC posted abysmal attendance and graduation rates.

Two of the school's four locations have closed in recent years, and records show MNIC is on the brink of insolvency.

"I think it's abhorrent," said Mary Ander, who helped start MNIC and served for years as a board member and director of vocational programs. "Reggie never should have been hired for that position."

Womack declined to comment. In a prior written responses to the allegations, Womack blamed other employees for the fraudulent activity for which the school was sanctioned.

Leadership questions

Problems at the charter school became public last month when the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld MDE's right to investigate the fraudulent enrollment practices. The charter school is overseen by the nonprofit Pillsbury United Communities.

Allegations against both Womack and Pillsbury United are detailed in several written complaints obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune and corroborated by the former employees and board members, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they are now working for other schools.

The complaints allege multiple violations of state and federal laws. One of the chief complaints was that Womack's tenure as executive director took place under questionable circumstances.

Former employees said the school had a chronic history of academic underachievement, but they said things came to a head in 2017, when founder and longtime leader Kevin Byrne died near the end of the school year. They said Byrne favored promoting Womack, the school's longtime security director, who stepped in as interim leader when Byrne died.

In September 2017, the MNIC board began a national search for a new executive director. The following spring, it settled on Dave Isaacson, MNIC's special education coordinator.

But three months after the board offered Isaacson the job, Isaacson resigned with no public explanation. Employees claimed in their complaints that the board was forced to change gears after Larry McKenzie, a Pillsbury United Communities leader, threatened to remove Pillsbury's sponsorship of MNIC if Womack was not made executive director.

Such an action would be a major violation of Minnesota rules governing the role of the dozen authorizers who hold charter schools responsible for meeting state benchmarks. Authorizers are required to ensure charter school autonomy by refraining from such guidance. Records show MDE has penalized other authorizers for offering unsolicited advice on a charter school location or a board's choice of executive director.

In a 2018 letter to MDE, McKenzie said it was "unequivocally false" that Pillsbury United improperly influenced Womack's selection.

"We cannot continue to respond to baseless claims or matters that have already been resolved by MDE," Alul Yesak, Pillsbury United's director of public charter schools, said in a written response to questions from the Star Tribune.

Womack was promoted to the school's top leadership position in July 2018. Former employees said Womack had previously worked as a custodian at Pillsbury United, where he met and befriended McKenzie.

In their complaints, former employees and board members said they thought Womack's "lack of educational credentials" meant he was unqualified for the job of running a challenging school with a $6 million budget. But unlike traditional school districts, charter school leaders are not required to have any educational experience or hold any licenses under Minnesota law.

In an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Womack declined to describe his work or educational background.

Low performance, big spending

When Womack stepped into his leadership role in 2018, he predicted a big enrollment surge that never materialized, according to board records and former employees. Instead, Womack had to lay off staff, which he blamed on his predecessor. In a November 2018 letter to MDE, McKenzie praised Womack for his "great commitment to improving the school's performance and practices," while acknowledging that MNIC was "in serious need of improvement."

But the problems have gotten worse, raising significant questions about the state's oversight of charter schools.

Though Womack was once considered a strong recruiter, enrollment at MNIC has plummeted, dropping from 521 students in 2018 to 218 in 2024.

In 2024, just 4% of MNIC's students regularly attended school, well below the state average of nearly 75%, and amounting to one of the lowest attendance rates in the state. None of its students were proficient in math, and just 12% were reading at grade level. The school also has one of the lowest graduation rates, with about 5% of seniors receiving their diplomas in 2023, down from 21% in 2019.

MNIC's current chair, Tracy Eberlein, described the school as a last-chance option for some students; they've failed at other schools and come to MNIC to change course through work-based learning programs.

"We are not going to have high graduation rates because this could be their third or fourth or fifth high school," Eberlein said in a previous interview. "They could be three or four years behind in high school when they get to us."

MNIC's fund balance, the most important indicator of a school's financial health, was expected to fall to $43,000 this year, down from a healthy $2.7 million in 2018.

Despite the school's financial problems, Womack and other MNIC leaders have rewarded themselves with large raises in recent years, according to the school's tax returns. In 2023, Womack earned $123,594, up from $73,364 he earned in 2018. Other leaders have seen similar gains, with total compensation to key employees climbing 80% in five years.

In the 2022-23 school year, MNIC shelled out more than $1 million on administrative costs, or nearly $5,000 per student. That's more than three times the state average.

Ron White, a former MNIC board member who initially supported Womack's promotion to executive director, said he was dismayed when the new leader began spending hundreds of dollars each month to bring co-workers to Topgolf's facility in Brooklyn Center.

"How often do you have to go to Topgolf? That place is expensive — and it is being paid for by the state," White said of the golf entertainment venue. "I thought Reggie short-changed the kids' education."

Oversight for Pillsbury United is reduced

In its most recent state review, Pillsbury United received the second-lowest score among the state's 12 authorizers, with MDE saying in 2020 the nonprofit "does not consistently hold charter schools accountable to academic, financial and operational performance outcomes and standards."

Despite the poor marks, state lawmakers approved a bill in 2023 that exempts all eight high schools overseen by Pillsbury United — including MNIC — from the state's academic accountability system. The law allowed the nonprofit to come up with its own performance measures.

A co-sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Mary Kunesh, D-New Brighton, testified that the change was needed to improve outcomes for "kids of color." But the change drew pushback from some legislators and EdAllies, an education advocacy group in Minnesota.

"Why would the state feel comfortable lowering the academic bar for a subset of charter schools when the other 330 traditional school districts continue to be held to a higher standard?" asked Matt Shaver, EdAllies' policy director.

Pillsbury United's actions as an authorizer will be reviewed by MDE in the near future as part of a scheduled review of charter school oversight.

Coming next week: The Star Tribune will publish an in-depth report documenting problems within Minnesota's charter-school sector.