School board approves using federal funds to pay legal judgment

KENWOOD, Okla. (AP) -- Kenwood school board members on Thursday unanimously approved using $75,000 of federal funds to help pay a legal judgment to a former school superintendent.

Garland Lane, who served as superintendent for two decades, won a $321,500 wrongful termination judgment against the school district in 1998. The school district already has paid $126,500 to Lane.

Board members decided to use $75,000 in federal funds and $45,000, from taxpayers for this year's $120,000 payment. The balance, plus interest, will be paid in an annual payment for the next two years.

Meetings regarding the use of federal funds to retire all or part of the legal judgment will be held, officials said. The Delaware County Excise Board will meet Monday to set the tax rolls for Kenwood and the rest of the county.

"The board felt like it was a fair decision," present Kenwood schools Superintendent Kenneth Limore said after the meeting. "Our goal is to protect the education of the children, and then not burden the taxpayers as much."

Last week, the state attorney general's office approved the use of federal funds.

Without using a portion of federal funds, property taxes in this rural Delaware County community would have quintupled for about 200 homeowners. The effect would amount to raising taxes on a $35,000 home from $145.32 to $749.03 a year.

Other property owners in the Kenwood area who own American Indian land are exempt from property taxes.

Kenwood schools are on the southern edge of Delaware County near the Spavinaw Hills Wildlife Refuge. They average between 125 and 130 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.