Tuition assistance produced few degrees
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
October 25, 2009
Montgomery County's embattled tuition assistance program has produced few college diplomas or professional certificates in the past five years despite a heavy investment of taxpayer money, county records show.
For the roughly $4 million the county spent on the program during that period, 121 employees reported earning a degree and 18 reported earning a certificate, county records show.
The county recently suspended the program over concerns of abuse. The Examiner first reported that employees were using taxpayer money to take Spanish lessons in Costa Rica and yoga lessons.
Under the rules of the program, employees were required to take courses that would earn them degrees or certificates related to their current or future job with the county. Employees also could take classes that would improve their job performance, but would not lead to a degree or certificate.
The county would pay up to $1,730 a year for classes per employee.
An average of about 800 employees took advantage of the program each year, and 752 employees reported that they were working toward a degree during the last five years, county records show.
Human Resources Director Joseph Adler told the County Council in a memo that 128 employees are expected to earn a degree and six are expected to earn a certificate in "the next several years."
Adler also told the County Council that it was not "viable" for his department to ask employees to evaluate the courses they have taken on the taxpayer's dime.
Each education organization or company that offers courses taken by county employees is responsible for "the standards of evaluating" their courses, Adler said, not the Office of Human Resources.
The tuition program came under fire in July after Sheriff Raymond Kight told county officials that the program may have been misused by training companies to offer hundreds of public safety employees discounted guns. Kight said two of his deputies approached him with concerns about the courses.
The County Attorney's Office and the Inspector General's Office have opened separate probes into the program and are expected to report their investigations' findings by the end of the year.
