Stockton School District Asked to Repay
Nearly $1 Million in Unapproved Spending. The California Department of Education is asking the Stockton Unified
School District to return $962,000 that was spent on unapproved classroom
materials.
The request was made
after the Department of Education sent in auditors. According to school board
members, former Superintendent Anthony Amato was advised by district staff not
to purchase the materials in question – for a program called "Success for
All" – because the district would not be able to use them.
The "Success
for All" materials now reside in a district warehouse, gathering dust. Mr.
Amato was fired in September, and is now heading up a school in New Orleans.
Mr. Amato previously was let go from superintendent positions in New Orleans,
Hartford and Kansas City.
School board members
claim they were kept in the dark about the questionable purchases. Beverly
Fitch McCarthy, the school board president, said: "It never occurred to us
to say, 'Is this on the approved list?' He's the superintendent. He should be
knowledgeable. He shouldn't even be bringing us these programs if they're not
approved."
The chief financial
officer of the district said the district is facing a "bare-bones
budget," and currently is able to repay the state only $140,000. (Source:
Mike Luery's On the Money, CBS 13-Sacramento,
July 7.)
(Cal-Tax recommendation:
School board members, as elected officials representing parents, students and
taxpayers, should be knowledgeable about how schools are spending the hard-earned
tax dollars of the district's residents. School board members should take
responsibility for the district's finances by asking the district's staff how
their funds are being spent. Cal-Tax applauds the Department of Education for
keeping local school districts accountable, and encourages the auditors to
continue investigating how tax dollars are used in other schools.)
Cal-TaxReports, July 12, 2010
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Association.
All Rights Reserved.