ST. LOUIS — A state audit of ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools will investigate a wide scope of the district’s finances and operations to uncover wasteful spending and potential fraud.
Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said Thursday that families have “more questions than answers†after the SLPS superintendent was placed on leave last month over hiring and spending practices.
“The kids of ºüÀêÊÓƵ desperately need and deserve to have a school district that can provide them a quality education and not have a bunch of distractions related to the financial management of the district,†Fitzpatrick said at a news conference downtown.
During Keisha Scarlett’s yearlong stint as superintendent, the district’s general operating budget plunged from a surplus of $17 million to a projected deficit of $35 million, in part because of additional spending on staff pay raises and transportation. The district also brought in more than 20 new administrators and consultants with connections to Scarlett and her previous employer, Seattle Public Schools.
People are also reading…
Fitzpatrick acknowledged the district’s $180 million fund balance — enough to cover about five months of expenses — but said dipping into the reserves can only last “for a limited amount of time.â€
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Tishaura O. Jones previously called on Fitzpatrick to audit the SLPS administration and school board in addition to the annual audit of the budget overseen by her office.
The state audit, which will begin Tuesday, will look into the board’s practice of approving emergency contracts without a bidding process and the hires of top-level administrators who bypassed candidate interviews.
The school board placed Scarlett on temporary leave July 25 and replaced her with Millicent Borishade, the deputy superintendent and one of Scarlett’s first hires and closest friends. Borishade does not have a Missouri superintendent’s certificate and received a vote of no confidence from teachers in her last school district outside Seattle.
Fitzpatrick said transportation will be a key focus of the audit as SLPS faces a critical bus shortage. The auditor said he wants to know what led to the district’s bus vendor, Missouri Central, deciding to terminate its contract in March and why the district did not have a contingency plan.
Thousands of students have been assigned to taxicab or rideshare companies for the first day of school Aug. 19. Another 1,700 high school students were given MetroBus passes. The district has not responded to public records requests for the contracts and safety plans of the various vendors.
The audit will also dig into the district’s compliance with state transparency laws for government meetings and records. On the academic side, investigators will check if SLPS has created individualized plans for thousands of struggling readers, as required by state law.
Fitzpatrick did not offer a clear time frame for the audit but indicated it could take up to a year or longer.
Two other state audits in the region are set to be completed by the end of the year, including the finances of the city prosecutor’s office under former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and the construction cost overruns of the new Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles County.