D.C. Public Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey is expected to testify before a congressional oversight committee today to defend his reform efforts just days after the U.S. Department of Education said the system wasat “high risk” for mismanaging federal funds.
Deputy U.S. Education Secretary Raymond Simon sent a letter to Janey last week identifying major weaknesses in the school system’s auditing procedures, its management of federally financed programs and its record-keeping. The District was the only school system in the continental United States to have the “high-risk” designation — ranking it with Guam, American Samoa and Puerto Rico.
Education officials did say most of the problems stemmed from a long history of mismanagement in the school system, which has seen seven different superintendents, nearly a dozen chiefs of facilities, ten chief financial officers, five business officers and ten budget directors within the past decade. During a recent revamping of the human resources department, detailed earlier this year by DCPS Chief Financial Officer John Musso, officials found that hundreds of former employees were still receiving paychecks and benefits sometimes years after they departed.
Janey, who was hired in the fall of 2004, said his department is working hard to rebuild a long-neglected system that hadn’t been updated in decades. The school system has begun implementing a state-of-the-art procurement system, Janey said, and his office is working with the District’s inspector general to install a full-time independent audit team.
U.S Education officials threaten penalties
» DCPS receives $120 million in federal funds, which makes up nearly 15 percent of its total budget.
» The U.S. Education Department could penalize the school system by taking 1 percent of its federal funds.
» DCPS officials will have one year to prove reform efforts are
working.
