Ken Witt has amended the district’s contract with Merit, to shift some costs from Merit to the district. Section 8.1(I) used to read:

The District will provide charter liaison services by assigning these duties to an
employee or retaining an independent contractor to act as the liaison between
the District and the School. Such employee or independent contractor shall be
mutually agreed upon by the District and the School. The costs of the liaison
services shall be paid by the District’s authorized charter schools, including the
School, as a purchased service from the District.

(see page 37 of the original contract)

In February of 2023, Witt amended the contract to read:

The District will provide charter liaison services by assigning these duties to an
employee or retaining an independent contractor to act as the liaison between
the District and the School. Such employee or independent contractor shall be
mutually agreed upon by the District and the School.

(source)

Note the change – previously, the cost for this liaison was to be paid by the charter schools. Now, the district will shoulder that cost. A relatively minor change but a quiet one that would have gone unnoticed if not for one of our unrelated CORA requests.