Members of a parents’ group in Montgomery County are claiming another victory after an audit of the county school system detailed a host of familiar shortcomings.
Most notable in the report, compiled between November 2007 and July 2008 by Maryland’s Office of Legislative Audits, are lapses in oversight of district-issued credit cards. In fiscal 2007, about 1,200 employees made credit card purchases, for a total of about $5.6 million, according to the school system.
A review of 161 transactions found that 50 of them, totaling $22,800 and applicable to nine people, were not recorded on transaction logs. For 41 other transactions, there was no evidence of approval by a supervisor.
Credit card oversight has been one of the key issues for the Montgomery County’s Parents’ Coalition, a five-year-old group with an online community of about 350 people. They’re cast off as an annoyance by many in the school system, but championed by others, and each other, as truth-seeking watchdogs.
The group’s stated goal is “improving the responsiveness and performance of the Montgomery County Public Schools,” and their constant complaint is too little transparency in district spending and decision-making.
Since spring 2008, several members have issued multiple requests for credit card logs. They were first rebuffed, but eventually received 14 logs from administrators showing many of the same problems detailed in the audit, including unauthorized food purchases. The logs now have their own page on the group’s Web site.
“Vindicated, absolutely,” Janis Sartucci, one of the group’s most outspoken members, said of the audit, mentioning the 14 logs her group received didn’t nearly cover all the credit expenditures.
Also included in the audit were recommendations to ensure computer security and to better track school money and inventory — issues raised in the past by various members of the Parents’ Coalition.
There was little oversight of student funds collected at various schools, the audit said, and a review of 54 pieces of equipment revealed that 28 “sensitive” items, such as laptop computers and digital cameras, worth $49,700, could not be located.
Despite the parents’ sense of victory, the state’s chief auditor, Bruce Myers, suggested Montgomery didn’t stand out enormously from other school systems.
“There’s nothing close to fraud,” Myers said, though he expressed “disappointment in the credit card stuff.”
