Liberty Academy faces financial troubles

Tuition is likely to increase for students at Liberty Baptist Academy, but the school does not plan to close down, according to school officials.

Scott Hendry, the financial agent for Liberty, hosted a meeting Tuesday at the Liberty Baptist church to inform parents of students that the school has financial issues and that there is an investigation into the matter. George Wright, an attorney for Stuart, Clover, Duran, Thomas & Vorndran LLP, who represents Liberty Church, and also the academy, also attended the meeting.

Neither Hendry nor Wright provided specific information to the approximately 300 attendees at the meeting regarding the investigation, but admitted there is one.

Im aware that there seems to be an ongoing investigation by the district attorneys office, but I dont know any more details than that, Wright told the News-Star on Wednesday.

The school has never been a financially self-sustained institution, and the tuition and fees do not cover the costs of operations for the school, Hendry said. Liberty has always depended on the church for financial backing and has had a myriad of financial troubles for several years, Hendry said.

There are many reasons for the financial trouble. Donations to the church have decreased recently in the last two years and major supporters have recently died. The school has also had to take out two different loans in the past 18 months, Hendry said. He has worked extensively to try to establish standard financial practices within the school and church since officially taking his position in 2010.

We have been, as a church, in a difficult financial position, Hendry said. Thats why a lot of these things are coming to a head. The schools financial concerns were brought to the attention of Hendry by Gary Kasterke, a deacon and trustee at Liberty, after he wrote a letter of allegations to Hendry last summer.

The letter highlighted specific financial transactions that Kasterke was concerned about and wanted Hendry to look into, Kasterke said.

One thing led to another. There was a strong allegation letter of wrong-doing that was given to me last summer that necessitated quite an investigation and that is still ongoing, Hendry said. There are also a number of things that came up in the day-to-day business of making sure our finances are in order and accounted for that were questionable and of grave concern to me and to the people that were involved.

Wright told attendees at the meeting that the investigation into the Academy has sped up in the past couple of days and that Hendry was telling the crowd as much as he could, but could not get provide many details because the investigation is ongoing.

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Liberty Academy faces financial troubles