Montgomery County employees used a taxpayer-funded tuition assistance program to take religion courses that appear to be geared toward their own spiritual growth rather than toward their jobs, county records show.
The county has paid up to $900 each for courses like “Principles of Christian Growth” and “Contemporary Evangelism” that emphasized “memorizing key Bible verses” and “restraining the flesh and renewing your mind … (to) Christ,” according to county records and online course descriptions.
The tuition assistance program is supposed to help employees take classes or earn degrees that are related to their current or future jobs with the county.
The program is under county investigation, and several County Council members have expressed dismay at some of the courses that have been approved by the Office of Human Resources.
» The county approved paying $2,720 to Clayton College of Natural Health for at least one Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employee to take courses like “Introduction to Herbology,” “Herbology II” and “Overview of Energy Techniques.”
“It would appear that in many cases the courses have no benefit for the public that is footing the bill for them,” said Council President Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville.
Staff in the Office of Human Resources could not be reached for comment.
At least one member of the county’s police department took five $120 courses at Genesee Valley Bible Institute and Seminary, an unaccredited Bible college that offers online courses like “Church Growth” and “Bible Doctrines.” The courses were not taken as part of a degree program, county records show.
Police department employees also took courses like “Survey of Bible Literature” and “Contemporary Problems for Christian Leaders” on the public’s dime at Liberty University and Regent University, which were founded by televangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, respectively. Courses at those universities were for a degree, county records show.
And at least one member of the county’s fire department took $1,600 worth of classes toward a degree at Light University, an online, unaccredited “Biblical Counseling” school that offers courses like “Healthy Sexuality” and “Marriage and Family Counseling.”
Police officers and firefighters need the approval of only the county’s Office of Human Resources to take classes using public money, and don’t need permission from their supervisors.
But in response to concerns that the tuition assistance program is being misused, County Executive Ike Leggett last week ordered the police and fire chiefs to review each request from their departments and make recommendations to the office of human resources. Leggett also ordered that all other department heads sign off on each new request.
