SD informs officials that regents picked to manage GEAR UP

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) – South Dakota has selected the state Board of Regents to administer a Native American college-readiness grant under scrutiny after an apparent murder-suicide, the state said in a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Education this week.

South Dakota Secretary of Education Melody Schopp said in the letter that her department will keep providing oversight of the GEAR UP grant. The grant’s future has been uncertain since the state decided not to renew its contract with Mid-Central Educational Cooperative for federal GEAR UP program administration.

Authorities believe Mid-Central employee Scott Westerhuis shot his wife and four children last month and then set the family home near Platte ablaze before shooting himself. That was just hours after the state Department of Education informed Mid-Central that it was losing its most recent $4.3 million GEAR UP contract.

Schopp cited financial problems and failures to follow proper accounting procedures at Mid-Central as reasons not to renew the grant.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard said in a letter sent earlier this month to the chairman of a legislative oversight committee that he has asked Attorney General Marty Jackley to examine beyond Westerhuis for evidence of wrongdoing in the administration of GEAR UP.

Schopp said in the letter to the U.S. Department of Education that the Board of Regents is well-suited to take on administration of the grant. She said the state Education Department and the regents are developing a “detailed plan that would result in minimal disruption to services being provided through the grant.”

Training will be required for staff with decision-making authority over the grant to ensure that expenditures are reasonable and allowable, she said. The agency also wants to dedicate a full-time position to managing GEAR UP to “ensure successful oversight,” Schopp said.

A U.S. Education Department spokesman has previously said the agency has two days to make a decision upon receiving a request about replacing the grant administrator. The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Schopp said the state is “anxious” to continue services that would assist some of the state’s highest-risk students. Regents System Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Turman said in a letter to Schopp this week that the Board of Regents looks forward to collaborating with the department.