CEDAR FALLS - The University of Northern Iowa's Malcolm Price Laboratory school is at the center of an investigation being conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The investigation came at the request of the State of Iowa Auditor's Office. No one will confirm the reason for the investigation, but John Quinn, DCI director, classified the potential crime as "white collar."

"At this time, no charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing," Quinn said in a prepared release. "The students, faculty and staff at the school are not in harm's way."

An internal audit was conducted at the school last fall and resulted in at least one recommendation: The school needed to step up its enrollment application address verification procedures. Representatives from the school said that change has already been made for the 2009-2010 school year.

A student's address can have a significant impact on their home school district's finances and their family's bank account. Because the school is funded through the university, it does not receive state per-pupil funding as other public schools do.

Students living in the Price Lab neighborhood and any seventh- through 12th-grader in Cedar Falls can apply to enroll in the school. Students who reside in other districts can open-enroll to the school if they meet other guidelines.

The lab school does not have an open enrollment provision with the Cedar Falls Community school district. Elementary students living in Cedar Falls, but outside the Price Lab buffer zone, must "tuition-in" to the school, at a cost comparable to the state's per-pupil rate. In 2008-09 that amounted to $5,546.

In previous years students enrolling at the school had to complete and sign a form affirming their home address. Guardians were not asked to verify the address unless someone, usually from the student's home district, questioned the information.

Beginning in 2009, potential students will have to present two forms of identification verifying their address when they fill out the enrollment application.

Other possible recommendations stemming from the internal audit were not available to The Courier by press time today.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office will serve in the role of prosecutor should charges be filed.

Kate Guess, UNI's director of public relations, said the university cannot comment on the initial cause for the investigation or the ongoing investigation.

"It is not our investigation to provide commentary on," she said. "However, we are fully cooperating with any requests they have and will continue to maintain a safe environment at the school."

The school, which is part of the university's College of Education, provides clinical teacher education and research at the early childhood, elementary, middle and high school levels. In 2008 the Legislature named the school the state's research, development, demonstration and dissemination school.

Contact Emily Christensen at (319) 291-1570 or emily.christensen@wcfcourier.com.