PREVIOUS COVERAGE | IRS: Don’t give Bradenton Prep money

But that wasn’t enough to soothe one parent, who still pulled his son from the school at 7900 40th Ave. W. because of the federal tax notice.

“I knew they were going downhill, but I was shocked at how much it was and how long it had been going on,” David Greenfield said.

“I knew their school buses were repossessed, I knew different events like Homecoming had no money spent on it, and that the different fall festivals were scaled way, way back.”

If the notice prompts more Bradenton Prep parents to stop paying tuition, “I don’t see how the school could survive that,” Mish said.

The unpaid taxes are among a host of financial problems buffeting the K-12 school.

Two lenders are seeking to foreclose on the campus, contending school officials defaulted on $5.7 million in loans. The school also has lost a leased sport-utility vehicle because of nonpayment, and is on the verge of losing another vehicle — a Chevrolet pickup truck — for the same reason, court records show.

Last week, the Florida Department of Revenue filed a $12,285 tax lien against the school for unpaid unemployment taxes and two complaints were filed with the Better Business Bureau of West Florida.

John Zajac, a BBB attorney, would only say the complaints relate to “employee disputes” and the bureau is investigating.

Several teachers have told the Bradenton Herald that the school has bounced paychecks and owes them back wages. Some have refused to report to work until they are paid.

But federal labor officials say they can’t help because teachers are specifically exempt from federal fair-labor laws.

Thus, “There is not a role for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in this issue,” agency spokesman Michael Wald said in an e-mail.

The National Labor Relations Board also lacks jurisdiction because the teachers do not have a collective bargaining contract with the school, he said.

Florida labor officials said they’re powerless to intervene as well. The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation simply forwards labor-related complaints it receives to the federal agency for investigation, spokeswoman Denishia Robinson said.