Lehighton Area School District’s plan to recoup money owed to it by other area districts took its biggest step forward Monday night.

By unanimous approval, Lehighton’s board of directors approved a 10-year repayment plan that will see Palmerton Area School District pay it $57,340 each year, starting in the 2021-22 school year, for a decade. The last payment will include an extra $1.79, bringing the total paid by Palmerton to $573,401.79.

Students regularly attend other districts for programs their home districts don’t offer. Most often that is tied to special education services.

“It could be things like emotional support, behavioral intervention, or like skills programs,” Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. “A lot of times districts don’t have enough students to warrant their own program, and you have to build that program for K-12, so they send the students to a district who has that. We also send students to other districts for certain services. The district providing the program then charges a daily rate to the home district who is sending the student.”

District officials said when former business administrator Patricia Denicola was hired in 2019, she discovered the business office had not been sending the invoices in a timely manner and began efforts to get those bills paid.

In a district audit released last year, Lehighton told the state attorney general’s office that $1,102,147.74 was billed to other districts for the school years 2017-18 and prior, and that $1,004,932.21 was still owed to Lehighton at that time.

“This money was never billed at the time,” board President Larry Stern. “I’m grateful Palmerton will go along with paying it back in these terms.”

Stern’s statement came after Director David Bradley, who ultimately voted in favor of the repayment agreement, criticized its length and lack of interest.

“We gave Palmerton an interest-free loan for a decade and now we’re giving them another interest-free bond payable over 10 years,” Bradley said. “I think we’re shoving this down the throats of our taxpayers and we’re being held hostage.”

Bradley, during Monday’s board meeting, said he uncovered that money was owed to Lehighton from other districts, but the district administration did not agree.

“Nobody was aware of it until Ms. Denicola brought it to the board’s attention,” Cleaver said. “She was the one who asked questions about it. Don’t act like you were aware of it. If you were aware, shame on you for not sharing it with the administration and other board members prior to her arrival.”

Asked about the situation during a meeting in October, Palmerton officials did not comment, calling it a potential legal matter at the time.

Lehighton is still working with Panther Valley on payment of those past invoices. Panther Valley owes an estimated $270,000.

The district said it has now put procedures in place to ensure invoices are mailed in a timely manner in the school year in which the education is delivered.