PROVIDENCE — The state Department of Education is seeking an accounting of a federal grant given to the Education Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy organization that went into receivership last week, after several employees of after-school programs run by the organization said they had not been paid for months.

Specifically, the Education Department is looking into $25,000 earmarked for programs at the William D’Abate Elementary School. The department sent the organization the $25,000, the last installment of a $203,000 annual federal grant, earlier this month, said Elliot Krieger, department spokesman.

The department’s legal staff plans to write to lawyer Allan Shine, the temporary receiver of the Education Partnership, to ask him to pay the vendors, which include freelance artists and dance, yoga and martial arts instructors, in addition to organizations such as the Girl Scouts, Providence CityArts and the Southside Community Land Trust.

Krieger said about 24 after-school programs served 200 elementary and middle school students at D’Abate during the past year, and providers’ claims for back pay range from $500 to $5,000. The state did not know how many instructors were not paid, Krieger said.

“We’re feeling a responsibility to the vendors and to these after-school and summer programs that have been very successful,” he said. “We don’t want the difficulties of one agency to besmirch this worthwhile project.”

After-school programs were cut short at D’Abate last month and summer programs have been suspended, although Krieger said the department is trying to get another agency to take over the programs. The programs are financed through a federal grant called the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.

It is unclear what caused the Education Partnership to go into receivership. In a letter to its members, its board of directors said the group was trying to expand its consulting business and had overextended itself and was unable to secure lucrative contracts. The organization had about six staff members, including executive director Valerie Forti, who earned $140,000 in salary and benefits, according to 2005 tax returns. Payroll for the organization’s staff was met last week, Shine said in a previous interview.

Shine said vendors and creditors will have four months after a Superior Court hearing on July 8 to file claims. Until then, he said it is difficult to know exactly how much the Education Partnership owes. So far, Sovereign Bank has placed a $300,000 lien on the Education Partnership’s assets, he said.

Some after-school program providers said they had not been paid by the Education Partnership as far back as February and March.

Brent Bachelder, a painter and graphic designer who taught an architecture class at D’Abate, said he never received his last $900 check. “I’ve been frustrated for a long time,” he said.

George Pesare taught martial arts for the past two and a half years. He says he was not paid for April and May, but says he is less worried about getting his money — about $320 — than the fact that the program will probably not return this fall.

Shanthi Muthu, a yoga instructor, says the Education Partnership owes her $1,700.

“I was calling them, e-mailing them, calling finance and payroll, and the thing that really bothers me is they were never frank and honest,” Muthu said.

Shine said people seeking to place a claim against the Education Partnership should contact him at ashine@wszlaw.com or by fax at (401) 272-5728.

jjordan@projo.com