Monday’s Examiner Exclusive on double-dipping in the District of Columbia Public School System should come as no surprise to anybody who’s been wondering how the city can spend so much on education — and get so little in return. With DCPS student scores perennially among the worst in the nation, it’s long been clear that millions in school money have gone into pockets, not into classrooms.
Last year, Examiner reporter Bill Myers investigated Brenda Belton, who recently pleaded guilty to making $649,000 in illegal payments and sweetheart contracts to enrich herself and her friends while serving as executive director of D.C.’s Office of Charter School Oversight.
Instead of making sure that every available dime was going to help special education students attending the 17 charter schools she was hired to oversee, Belton was brazenly stealing fromthem by forging signatures, handing out illegal kickbacks like Halloween candy, and depositing public funds into phony businesses and her own private accounts. Children in special ed already face an uphill academic climb and an uncertain future. Despicable doesn’t even begin to cover such behavior.
Now, Myers reports that a teacher’s aide was also being paid two salaries for the past four years, one from the special ed department and another from outside contractors. Other special ed employees apparently collected full paychecks even after leaving the system, while their asleep-at-the-switch supervisors continued signing off on phony time sheets.
The city’s special ed department has a budget of $139 million — money collected from local and federal taxpayers — for just 10,088 special ed students, according to DCPS’s own records. The department should be the school system’s crown jewel and a source of pride to all city residents. Instead, it’s a timely reminder of the stench of corruption that has permeated every nook and cranny of this dysfunctional school system and robbed many children of their future. It’s got to stop.
Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chancellor Michelle Rhee are committed to doing everything possible to improve the schools. But when self-serving mendacity runs this deep, half measures won’t do.
It’s time to convene an independent commission with subpoena and indictment powers, modeled on those that have exposed endemic corruption in big-city police departments and unions. And follow the money no matter where or to whom it leads.
