A former charter school executive who once was responsible for the education of thousands of District children apparently has agreed to plead guilty to theft and fraud charges more than a year after being accused of using her position to make money for herself, her friends and her family.
The terms of Brenda Belton’s plea agreement were not disclosed in the charging documents filed Friday and obtained by The Examiner. Belton was “charged by information” — an indication that a plea has been worked out, because a person can be charged by information only if he or she waives their right to have a grand jury hear the evidence.
It comes on the one-year anniversary of a federal raid that shook the charter schools’ office. Until the Belton scandal, the D.C. school board supervised 18 charter schools that enrolled nearly 5,000 children. The school board has since voted to cede its authority over the schools.
Billions have poured into the District over the past decade to build charter schools, which bring in private groups and people to run schools outside of normal regulations.
But federal authorities allege that Belton and her friends saw an opportunity in the program and used federal appropriations to line their own pockets. The Belton scandal divided the school board and embarrassed several top officials, including school board Vice President Carolyn Graham, who defended Belton against the allegations.
At Graham’s urging, the school board suspended charter school analyst Steve Kapani, whose allegations against Belton sparked the federal investigation. Kapani settled a pending lawsuit against the school board last week. Terms were not disclosed. Belton is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court later this month.
