KEOSAUQUA -- School officials in Van Buren County must wait a month to learn if they will be forgiven for improperly spending nearly $1 million to fund a child care center.

State records show Van Buren school officials have been using money from the general fund since 2000 to help support a district-run child care center.

Iowa law is strict about using money intended for one fund and using it for another fund.

For instance, money from a 1-cent statewide sales tax used for school construction cannot be used for employee salaries.

Van Buren school officials moved funds from the general fund, which pays teacher salaries and other classroom expenses, to the enterprise fund for the day care without paying it back.

School leaders closed the center last month after a taxpayer questioned the practice. An official with the Iowa Department of Education verified the practice was illegal, something school leaders say they didn't know.

"Each year, we have to file a certified annual report, and we have an auditor that has to review it," said Lisa Beames, the district's superintendent. "At no time in that process were we told that it was an improper transfer of funds. There was no indication from anyone that we need to stop doing this or else the district would have stopped. Ten years worth of audits and filing our certified annual reports and this was never brought to the attention of the district."

School officials asked the State Appeal Board to forgive the transfers, which total $927,190.

School leaders launched the child care center in 1999 at the Birmingham City Hall through an agreement with city leaders. The child care center was supported with a community development grant from the federal government, but records show the money ran out in 2000.

"The day care couldn't be solvent with the dollars it generated," Beames said. "We would have to increase the rates, but it would make it impossible for many of our families to go there because they don't have the financial means to do that."

Beames couldn't say how lnearly $1 million from the general fund affected teachers and students.

Members of the State Appeal Board, who were asked by district leaders to forgive them for the misspending, delayed any decisions for a month because they want additional information.

"We don't know what we are expected to do, if anything," Beames said.

Beames added there are other certified day cares in the area, but there is no longer a district-supported day care.