A Florida state senator is calling for an investigation into the payout of more than $500,000 to the principal of a failed Orange County charter school.

A school board chairman blasted the payout of taxpayer money, which has sparked outrage in Orlando, as “immoral and unethical.” 

Kelly Young, principal of NorthStar High School in Orlando, received a check for $519,453.96 in June, about the same time the Orange County School Board accepted the school’s plan to close in lieu of being forced to shut down based on declining student achievement, The Orlando Sentinel reported.

The Sentinel also reported that Young was “still being paid thousands of dollars a month” at the time to complete the school’s affairs. The school serves about 180 students in east Orange County.

Young's payment was authorized by the charter school's independent board, which is separate from the Orange County School Board, in June. At the time, the independent board called it "well-deserved and earned for her years of dedicated service at a below-market rate of compensation," the Sentinel reported.

Attempts by NBC News to contact Young on Thursday were unsuccessful.

Orange County School District officials say they were unaware of the principal's payment because the school isn’t required to report it under Florida's charter school law, according to the Sentinel.

Young’s attorney, Larry Brown, said the payment was justified. "Here's a lady with no retirement, who at that point had put six years of her life into the school, feeling like she had to make provision for retirement in her contract," Brown told the Sentinel.

Watch the Top Videos on NBCNews.com

While the payout appears to be legal, it has sparked outrage from State Sen. David Simmons and Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette.

"There's no room for abuse by charter or traditional schools," Simmons told the Sentinel. He called for an investigation. "All it does is hurt children."

"The law is very clear that school boards cannot put limits or control how a charter school spends their money, including payouts like this" Sublette told the Sentinel. He called the payment "a shameful abuse of public tax dollars" and "immoral and unethical."

Charter schools are privately run public schools with fewer regulations than traditional public schools. Charters, like public schools in Florida, receive state money based on student population.

Money leftover from charter schools is supposed to funnel back to school districts upon closure.

According to the Sentinel,

NorthStar, which had a balance of $717,293 at the end of the 2011 school year, has not turned over any money to Orange County Public Schools.

A statement provided to the district by the charter school showed a balance of less than $10,000 on June 29.

Young's payout was based on a contract that called for her to be paid about $305,000 per year through 2014, even though the school's contract was up for renewal in 2012. She was paid 85 percent of her remaining contract.

Young's salary was more than 2 1/2 times that of the highest-paid principal at a traditional Orange County public school in 2011: $116,565.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Federal jury acquits cousins of gay hate crime in landmark case
• Bullet in chest doesn't stop N.Y. cop from catching suspect
• Surprise intruder: 300-pound deer breaks into Philadelphia home
• Hurricane Sandy could be a 'Nor'easter on steroids'
• Illinois hoarder ordered to get rid of hundreds of birds

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

A charter school network in Chicago praised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel for its academic performance is under fire from parents and advocates for charging students $5 for some disciplinary infractions, including chewing gum, violating the dress code or being more than three minutes late to class.

The Noble Network of Charter Schools, which operates 10 high schools in the city, said it collected nearly $200,000 in discipline fees last year as part of a policy that asks misbehaving high school students to share in the cost of addressing the misbehavior. The money is then used by the school to offset the costs of teachers or staff who stay after school to administer detention.

“The goal is to promote positive behavior by staff and students and produce a learning environment that is conducive to learning and college preparation,” Michael Milkie, CEO and superintendent of Noble, said in a statement.

Emanuel, former White House chief of staff for President Barack Obama, has drawn criticisim from the Chicago Teachers Union for his open support of charter schools, including Noble, where teachers are mostly not unionzed.

Some education advocates say Noble's approach to discipline is counterproductive and another burden for poor families who are already struggling to get by. Students who accumulate a certain number of demerit points over a two-week period are then sent to detention, for which they must pay a $5 fee.

“We think the discipline system is ridiculously petty,” Julie Woestehoff, the executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education, told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

Students and parents marched to City Hall on Monday to protest the discipline policy, which Woestehoff said is unnecessarily harsh.

“We’ve talked to a lot of parents who have taken their kids out of Noble,” she told msnbc.com.

Donna Moore, a parent of a student at Noble school called the policy a “hidden tax on Chicago’s black and Latino families."

“Noble is forcing low-income parents to choose between paying the rent and keeping their child in school,” she was quoted as saying on the website of Parents United for Responsible Education.

Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, offer students an alternative to the traditional public school system. They are increasingly popular in urban areas with high numbers of economically disadvantaged and struggling students.

Noble, founded by former Chicago public high school teachers, has a waiting list of 3,000 students wanting to enroll.

“We believe the fact that we had more than 8,000 applications for our incoming freshmen classes and long waiting lists for all our other classes demonstrates that families desperately want this safe, productive learning environment for their children,” Milkie said.

He told msnbc.com on Tuesday that the discipline policy provides a "safe, learning enviroment," for Noble's 6,500 students. Students who earn four demerits within a two-week period receive a three-hour detention and the $5 fine. Students with more than 12 detentions are referred to a class at a cost of $140. Accommodations are made for families who can't pay.

"We sweat the small stuff," Milkie said. "We think these are life skills that will help students."  

Figuring out what discipline policy work best is a matter of debate among school administrators across the country. The Advancement Project, a legal action group based in Washington, D.C., has been working with schools to encourage a less punitive approach to minor infractions.

"It's unconscionable that a school could almost collect $200,000 in a year, especially when it's their mission to serve low-income families and students of color," Jim Freeman, a senior attorney with the organization, told msnbc.com. 

 KIPP, a charter network of 109 schools in 20 states and Washington, D.C., uses a different approach to promote good behavior.

“We have an incentive-based system,”  Steve Mancini, director of public affairs for KIPP, told msnbc.com. 

Many of the middle schools offer students ways to earn KIPP dollars, a school-based currency, for academic performance, conduct and overall behavior. That “money” can be turned in at the school store for school supplies, Mancini said.

But Mancini told msnbc.com that the reward system gets phased out in the higher grades as the students learn the “intrinsic reward” of school success.

“We want them to develop a love of learning for learning’s sake,” he said.

Kimberly Davis told the Chicago Tribune that the Noble discipline policy works. She said her daughter is on track to graduate high school, after paying more than $300 for behavior classes and discipline fees.

“You have to buy into the program,” Davis told the newspaper, adding that for her daughter, “it worked.”

 More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

• Study: 1 in 8 voter registrations have errors
• Restaurant settles lawsuit over N-word receipts
• Yesterday's fashion, today's surplus: Chihuahuas
• 'Cash mobs': Flash mobs help America's small businesses