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A Tuesday extradition hearing for Silas Potter Jr., who was arrested in Florida last week in connection with the Seattle Public Schools theft case, has been postponed until Thursday, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Potter, who is being held in Florida, has the option of waiving or fighting extradition to Seattle.

Potter, the central figure in the school-district financial scandal, was arrested on a warrant during a traffic stop near Tampa last week, a day after he failed to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on felony theft charges.

Potter, 60, headed the school district’s small-business program from 2006 to 2010 before he moved to Tampa. He is charged with nine counts of first-degree theft in what prosecutors described as a scheme to bilk the district out of $250,000.

In charges filed Oct. 25, prosecutors accused Potter and two other defendants
of using a Tacoma nonprofit and a Seattle janitorial company to bill the
district for little or no work. Potter pocketed a portion of the payments,
prosecutors said.

The other defendants pleaded not guilty to theft charges during last week’s arraignment hearing.