Arizona charter school founder spent school money in Hawaii and on 'spiritual healers'

"Too numerous to list." 

That's how a federal trustee described the number of suspicious purchases an alternative charter school founder made with taxpayer funds. 

Trish McCarty ran StarShine Academy, a Phoenix alternative charter school, up until last year when the Arizona State Board For Charter Schools shut it down for "egregious" financial mismanagement.

StarShine is among more than 100 schools allowed to operate under the state's "alternative school" label.

The schools are supposed to serve the state's most vulnerable students: those at risk of dropping out or failing. But an investigation by The Arizona Republic found there is little oversight over the students these schools enroll, or the quality of the education they receive. 

Documents filed in StarShine's ongoing bankruptcy case detail suspect purchases from 2016 until early 2018. McCarty provided calendar entries as justification for the expenses, but many did not match bank-statement entries.

The trustee listed more than 100 dubious expenses found on StarShine's bank statements. But they added that while they outlined the most egregious items, "There were also expenses for several hundred Uber charges, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe grocery expenses."

$4,500 in Hawaii, more than $2,000 in Great Britain 

The trustee in the case wrote that while StarShine was in bankruptcy court, it appeared McCarty used funds for a Hawaiian vacation, a trip to Europe and "numerous other trips around the country." 

In Hawaii, McCarty's debit card statement shows a $95 purchase at Walmart and $73 at a snorkeling company, according to the bankruptcy records. 

McCarty wrote in her Google calendar that the Walmart trip was for classroom supplies.

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The trustee was skeptical, writing: 

"Why would anyone buy classroom supplies, poster board, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and art supplies in Hawaii, when you would have to pack them up on an airplane to get them to the school?... It defies credulity that anyone would purchase these items in a Hawaii Wal-Mart to bring to a school in Phoenix." 

From Great Britain, McCarty's bank statements showed a $68 restaurant trip and a $559 charge at the Mad Hatter Hotel, among other purchases.

$500 for 'Spirit Repair' 

McCarty's StarShine debit card statement had several charges for services from so-called spiritual healers and clairvoyants. 

One $500 charge was made to Spirit Repair LLC. She wrote in her Google calendar that the $500 was for a "Spirit Repair Heart Math School License to raise Math student test scores." The trustee found, however, that Spirit Repair is "home of the largest quartz crystal in North America, and Master John Douglas, a spiritual healer and clairvoyant." 

The trustee did not find a math license for sale at the business, but did find remote "healing sessions" for $250 each. 

Another $650 went to what appeared to be a conference titled "Self-Empowered Wisdom 2018 — Embracing Bliss! The Spirit of Enlightened Conversation."  McCarty wrote in her Google calendar it was for a math conference, according to the bankruptcy records. 

McCarty used her school debit card to spend nearly $40 at a place called "Mama's Minerals" and wrote that the expense was for mildew remover for school bathrooms. The trustee searched on Mama's Minerals website and noted, "They sell beads, crystals, and other metaphysical items, but they do not sell mildew remover." 

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$215 for online traffic school 

In August 2017, McCarty's debit card paid $215 for something called "520 Trafficschool.c".

The bank statement led the federal bankruptcy trustee to believe the charge was for online traffic school for an individual driver. They could not find the "traffic curriculum" McCarty claimed she bought for the school.

"Again, it appears that Ms. McCarty intentionally misrepresented this expense in her calendar in order to hide the fact that she spent school/taxpayer funds to pay for her online defensive driving course," the trustee wrote. 

$1,601 for an electricity bill 

McCarty wrote in her calendar that she paid a $1,601 electric bill as an advance on her paycheck.

Later, she explained that she had not received her paycheck, "which she believed somehow entitled her to use school funds to pay for her personal $1,600.95 electricity bill," according to the bankruptcy documents.

Payroll information told a different story: She received two paychecks in the month before the electricity bill, according to the court records.

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$624 at Waste Management Open

Early in 2018, three months before the Charter Board would move to close StarShine, McCarty's debit card showed a $624 purchase from "Waste Management." 

Her Google calendar stated the payment was for a large trash container drop-off for tree branches. The trustee noted that the purchase was unusual because StarShine used a different company for landscaping and waste. 

A former StarShine employee contacted investigators and informed them that the expense was for the Waste Management Open, the popular golf tournament held in Scottsdale annually. It's unclear how the funds were spent at the tournament. General admission tickets ranged from $45 to $60 this year, while a sponsor package went for $450.