Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson has chided several school principals for what she has described as their hostile reaction to a ministry decision to deduct overpaid cost-sharing funds from their budgets this month.

“It’s not a matter for hostility,” the minister said in a telephone interview. “I think the education officers and the accounts department are in discussion with the schools.”

The Observer learnt last week that high schools in three regions audited by the ministry owed amounts varying from half-a-million dollars to more than $2.5 million.

Henry-Wilson, who avoided commenting on whether the ministry would grant the principals’ request for more time to repay the money, said the foul-up had stemmed from some schools submitting more names for cost-sharing assistance than the number of students enrolled.

This was not necessarily the fault of the schools, she said, because registered students sometimes leave the institutions without officially notifying school administrators.

“The overpayment was caused by the (use of) figures you initially get,” Minister Henry-Wilson said. “If we were to await the actual numbers, perhaps people would not get cost-sharing until the end of December. In the meantime, they (schools) need funds to operate.”

Cost-sharing funds are paid over to schools in two tranches every year, usually in October and April.

“The first month of school is still very fluid. Sometimes people register students and they don’t turn up, parents transfer them. It’s a question of reconciliation,” the minister said.

As a result of the foul-up, eight schools in Region Two – which covers Portland, along with parts of St Mary and St Thomas – owe close to $11 million, combined, in overpaid cost-sharing fees that accumulated over the last three years.

These schools are:

. Seaforth High, which owes approximately $2.6 million;

. Morant Bay High – $1.5 million;

. Robert Lightbourne – $0.5 million;

. St Thomas Technical – $1 million;

. Buff Bay High – $0.8 million;

. Fair Prospect High – 1.3 million;

. Happy Grove High – $1.3 million;

. Port Antonio High – $0.8 million; and

. Annotto Bay High – $1.1 million.

Last week, the principal of Seaforth High School, Hopeton Henry was worried that the ministry’s decision to deduct $2.6 million from the school’s budget this month would leave them with only $10,000 to run the school until it closes in July for the summer holidays.

The ministry’s decision to recoup the funds could not have come at a worse time as the school has been having problems collecting school fees from the general student body of approximately 1,800, he said.

Last Thursday, after many attempts to collect the outstanding fees, school officials began sending home students from one grade each day. They were each given a letter in which school administrators asked parents who owe school fees to come in and make arrangements to pay.

So far, some parents have responded by paying a combined total of about $75,000, while others gave written commitments of roughly $50,000. But that’s still well below the $3-million in outstanding school fees owed for this academic year.

The greatest challenge is collecting fees from persons who applied for cost-sharing but were turned down, according to school officials. This academic year, only 47 of a total of 288 applicants were granted cost-sharing assistance.

In the meantime, finance officers from the ministry have been visiting affected schools in Region 2, poring over attendance registers and financial records to come up with an accurate picture of what is really owed.

Sources say that in some schools the data is showing a high level of drop-outs, pregnancies, migration and transfers, which are described as regular features of school life.