Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: San Diego Schools Misuse Millions in Grant Money

Topline: An instance of San Diego Unified school district spending a $3 million federal grant on employee bonuses instead of low-income students was just the start of a trend for San Diego schools diverting state and federal funds towards educators’ bonuses and gifts.

What happened in San Diego

The late U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, cited the $3 million misspending in his Wastebook 2008.

Coburn earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. He included projects that he couldn’t stop in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the $3 million wasted in San Diego — $4.4 million in today’s money.

Key facts: San Diego Unified school district added new perks to its pension plan in 2003 to convince aging teachers and principals to retire. The plan was projected to save the district money by forcing out its highest-paid employees.

It worked too well. Pensions were so high that almost 1,500 school workers retired in one year, leaving the district scrambling to pay for the benefits.

In a questionable display of logic, officials used federal grants meant to support low-income students and provide free lunches. They also money from anti-drug programs and HIV/AIDS education to pay retirees.

Federal auditors told San Diego Unified in 2008 to reinvest the money into a national fund for low-income students, but it’s unclear whether the school actually did.

What is clear is that the incident was just the start of San Diego Unified’s spending spree.

Background

Background: In May 2012, state auditors found that the school district had billed $4.5 million of custodial costs to its free lunch program, which was 79% funded by the federal government.

A separate state report that same year found another $13.4 million taken from the same school lunch fund — mostly to pay employee salaries — and demanded repayment.

San Diego Unified denied wrongdoing in both instances.

Not long afterward, the district came clean about more corruption: officials were using free lunch funding to buy gifts for cafeteria workers to encourage “good attendance.” The schools had used $300,000 over 12 years but graciously promised to stop doing so.

When school officials actually did spend money on students, they still managed to drop the ball. In 2009, San Diego Unified spent $2.7 million of a federal grant on preschool staffing but forgot to file reimbursement paperwork. The public didn’t even find out until 2011.

While this malfeasance was going on, 57% of the district’s students were not meeting state standards in math scores and 46% were behind in English.

Summary: Students at San Diego Unified may be struggling with limited resources, but at least the district’s employees seem to be enjoying themselves.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.