August 6, 2013

Federal audit dings Columbus schools on tutor money

Summary: The Columbus City Schools Title 1 tutoring program has come under renewed scrutiny following a shutdown of the program under the federal waiver program. A recent federal report notes the district didn’t carry over some unspent SES program funds while failing to notify the state of unused funds .

by Bill Bush, The Columbus Dispatch, originally published 6/3/13

Columbus City Schools didn’t spend millions of federal dollars it was allocated for student tutoring and didn’t provide records showing the money was properly spent on other allowable programs, a U.S. Department of Education report says.

The report concluded that the district didn’t comply with federal requirements over three school years for spending more than $5.6 million of federal Title I money intended to help poor children through after-school tutoring. The money was allocated from fall 2008 until spring 2011.

The tutoring program was shut down by state officials through a federal waiver amid an allegation of fraud by some tutoring providers. One Columbus tutor has been indicted federally so far. The district didn’t carry over any unspent tutoring funds for the program, called Supplemental Educational Services or SES, from one year to the next, nor did it notify the state that it had any unused funds, as required by federal law, the report states.

“Critically, however, (the district) also did not provide documentation that it met the criteria to spend unexpended amounts on other allowable activities, nor did it provide the requisite notice” to the state that it was spending the money on other things, the audit found. The federal agency also requested that the state Education Department provide documentation to prove the money was spent on allowable programs.

The federal report essentially overturns a state Education Department finding from 2011 that the district had met the requirements of the tutoring program. The program used federal No Child Left Behind dollars, and districts were required to set aside 20 percent of the yearly grant for after-school tutoring to qualified students.

To read more click here.

Filed under: Government,NCLB

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