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State Informs Officials Regents Chosen To Manage GEAR UP

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota has informed federal officials that it has selected the state Board of Regents to manage a Native American college-readiness grant under scrutiny after an apparent murder-suicide.

State Secretary of Education Melody Schopp said in a letter to her agency’s federal counterpart this week that her department will keep providing oversight of the GEAR UP grant.

The grant’s future has been uncertain since the state declined to renew its contract with Mid-Central Educational Cooperative for program administration.

Authorities believe Mid-Central employee Scott Westerhuis shot his wife and four children last month before shooting himself. That was just hours after the state informed Mid-Central it was losing its most recent contract.

A U.S. Education Department spokesman has said the agency has two days to make a decision upon receipt.