Kid Power Inc., which has run after-school programs in D.C. since 2003, was recently told by D.C. Public Schools’ Office of Contracts and Acquisitions that it would not be paid for several months of services rendered because it didn’t have a contract dating back to the first day of school. Because documentation — in the form of contracts signed and receipts collected — is essential to keeping tabs on where and how tax dollars are spent, it appears at first glance that DCPS was merely following accepted protocol. But Kid Power Board Chairman Gerald Zavala claims that DCPS warned the nonprofit that if it didn’t start providing after-school services in September, it would be excluded from a multiyear federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. Because grant funds would not be released until the new fiscal year began last November, Kid Power signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DCPS on April 27, 2010, agreeing that the group would be paid for running after-school programs at two sites in Wards 6 and 7 that “will commence on the first day of school or September 1, 2010, whichever comes first.” The MOU also “leaves room for more precise terms to be agreed upon later,” but Zavala says he never imagined Kid Power would be penalized $50,000 for not signing a contract it was unable to sign until Dec. 17. “We said OK and we started in September. We ramped up our staff in a good-faith effort to show that we were good community partners,” Zavala told The Examiner, believing that after working for free for two months, Kid Power would have no problem getting paid for the rest of the year.
But OCA now wants to subtract $16,000 Kid Power shelled out between Nov. 1 and Dec. 17 from its $120,000 first-year grant disbursement. As a result, the nonprofit has had to lay off administrative staff and its mostly part-time employees were not paid in full last month. Zavala says OCA told him he would have to sue DCPS to collect.
Neither the mayor’s officer nor OCA returned calls asking for comment on the standoff, which Zavala described as a “tug-of-war” between interim Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi. Although keeping track of where the money goes is a sign of a well-run government, so is honoring good-faith commitments. Likewise, stiffing a vendor could be an early sign of financial trouble ahead.
