The deficiencies, according to the state,  include the failure to demonstrate the successful implementation of education programs, the failure to monitor and evaluate the fiscal performance of their schools, and failure to remove unlicensed staff from the payroll.

Dr. Kwa David Whitaker, the CEO of Ashe, refused to tell The Investigator Tom Meyer why the state shouldn't revoke Ashe's sponsorship.

"I don't have to say anything to the taxpayers through you.  I don't have to say anything to Tom Meyer," Whitaker said.  

In a lawsuit brought by a former treasurer of one of the Ashe schools, questions of missing inventory at the school surfaced. 

Dr. Whitaker admitted under oath in a deposition that  a $40,000 satellite dish they purchased two years ago was shipped to Africa and has never been used.

If Ashe doesn't demonstate satisfactory remedies to all the deficiences in the state letter, the state says it will move to revoke Ashe's sponsorshi.  A new sponsor could take over or the state could sponsor the schools for up to two years until a new sponsor is found.

WKYC-TV