Oceanside Charter School v. New Jersey State Department of Education

The opinion of the court was delivered by

CARCHMAN, P.J.A.D.

On this appeal, we address the question of a grant recipient’s responsibility to return federal grant funds when the recipient fails to comply with certain provisions of the Public School Contracts Law (PSCL), N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-4 and N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-5. Here, respondent Department of Education (DOE) ordered appellant Oceanside Charter School (OCS or appellant) to repay $354,765.04 in grant funds. We affirm.

The issue arises in the following factual context. On May 1, 2002, DOE issued a Notice of Grant Opportunity (NGO) for a…