TUCSON — Arizona taxpayers probably have paid at least $300,000 to educate nonresident students from Mexico attending a public charter school in Douglas, the state’s schools chief said Thursday.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and Attorney General Terry Goddard separately called on the Arizona Legislature to close a statutory loophole exempting charter schools from the same student residency requirement that applies to public schools.

“My understanding is that the Legislature intends to correct it,” Horne said in an interview.

Earlier, in a statement, he said a videotape — posted on the Arizona Department of Education’s Web site — shows students who live in Agua Prieta, Mexico, being driven to the Omega Alpha Academy charter school across the border in Douglas. There were previous denials from the school, he said.

Horne told the Associated Press he did not know how long students from Mexico have been enrolled in the school, which opened in 2001. He said there are “four or five vans of 10 to 12 kids,” so at least 50 or so students from Mexico are attending the Alpha Omega Academy, which offers kindergarten through 12th grade classes for more than 500 students.

At funding of $6,000 per student, the state is providing at least $300,000 to educate the Mexican children, Horne said.

Horne’s staff questioned school officials in 2008 about allegations that children living in Mexico were enrolled. In his statement, Horne said the school’s executive director, Jose Frisby, wrote that students are required to verify their Arizona residency before being enrolled.

But Horne said a staff member videotaped the students and vans in April after further allegations. He said the vans operate on school property or immediately adjacent to it, in full view of school staff.

“It is impossible that school leadership is unaware of this practice,” Horne said.

Frisby and assistant executive director Steve Carvalho did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

In his statement, Goddard said that Arizona tax dollars should not go to educate other states’ residents, “whether that state is California, Utah or Sonora. Funding the schooling of those who do not live in Arizona is a wasteful expenditure that draws money away from critical investment in Arizona students.”

The prohibition in the statute to keep state funds given to traditional public schools from being spent on non-Arizona residents was not extended to charter schools when legislation was enacted enabling Arizona’s charter school system Goddard spokeswoman Anne Hilby said.

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