First the
Accountability Block Grant . . . now Title 2A . . . could there be more?
In the last
post, we showed an example of the dubious coding surrounding the expenditure of
Accountability Block Grant monies. The
improper coding may have been a way to hide the administrators’ use of the
money for travel (i.e., party and play).
In addition to
the Accountability Block Grant, Fort Cherry receives money under Title 2A. The Fort
Cherry Annual Report to the Community describes Title 2A as:
The Title 2A
program is a federal program that supports class size reduction at the
elementary center and the induction program for new teachers. The funding generally supports the salary
and benefits of a teacher at the elementary center to continue the reduction of
class size. It also supports the district’s induction program for newly hired
teachers, as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The Fort
Cherry School District requires all teachers new to the Fort Cherry School
District to participate in an induction or orientation program. Teachers new to
teaching and/or who have not completed a state-approved induction program must
complete a 3-year comprehensive Induction Program. Teachers with teaching
experience but who are new to this school district must complete a 1-year
orientation program.
Let’s take a
look how Trish Craig used a portion of the federal grant money for “teacher
induction”.
Look closely
at Craig’s descriptions.
Craig
originally wrote: “Induction Gifts –
Barnes & Noble” and “Gifts and Materials – “Target”.
Perhaps
because this reimbursement was part of a right-to-know request and would become
public, Craig crossed out “Gifts” and
penciled in “Materials”.
However, the
Barnes & Noble receipt submitted by Craig shows just that – “gifts” – multiple
copies of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch . . .
. . . as well as “gift bags” for the books . . .
. . . and additional items to fill up eight gift bags.
It appears that the gift
bags were presented to the new teachers at a luncheon at Quicksilver.
All told,
Craig used $569.28 of federal grant money.
Are
luncheons and gifts a proper use of Title 2A money?
Take a look
at the accounting codes:
Craig
charged the expenses to code 610 – General Supplies . . . here’s the definition
from the PDE’s Chart of Accounts:
610 GENERAL SUPPLIES
Expenditures for all supplies (other than those listed
below) acquired for the operation of the LEA, including freight and cartage. Consumable teaching and office items
such as paper, pencils, forms, postage, blank diskettes, blank CD-ROMs, blank
videotapes, and other supplies of relatively low unit costs, necessary for
instruction and / or administration should be included in this category. (A
more specific classification is achieved by identifying the function
chargeable.)
Food and
gifts coded as “consumable teaching and office items”???
Improper
coding is an easy way to hide the true nature of the expense.
The authors of this blog are not opposed
to giving teachers praise and presents, but not when those things come in the
form of misusing funds – misuse of the very funds that should be going to help the
children of FC.
Providing an expensive lunch and gift
bag does little to provide teacher orientation or reduce class size, the true
initiatives of the Title 2A program - initiatives that would surely delight FC’s
teachers, experienced and novice alike.
One
last thought . . .
According to Fort Cherry’s
Act 93 Agreement, administrators are awarded 5% of any grants they obtain for
the district.
So, how does
Craig code the 5% bonus she receives for signing off on grants? Is it buried in “610 General Supplies” with the
food and gifts?
