D.C. Paid For Training Schools Say Didn't Occur

Although her office was on the ninth floor of the school system's central administration building, Belton was not part of the system's staff. The 1996 charter school law created a firewall between the independently operated and publicly funded schools and the D.C. school superintendent.

Belton answered only to school board members, part-time supervisors who were rarely around to monitor the office's activities.

To pay Equal Access and other vendors, Belton used the school system's Central Investment Fund, which accepts donations from individuals and organizations requesting that the money be used for specific purposes, such as purchasing library books and supplies for needy children.

Belton had deposited $200,000, collected from the charter schools to run the board's charter office, into the investment fund. Some of that money was used to pay vendors.

Equal Access received $32,614 from the investment fund in February and $108,759 from the fund between April and July of last year, according to documents from the office of the chief financial officer.

To withdraw the funds, Belton submitted invoices but no documentation from charter school officials confirming that they had received the services, according to Pamela D. Graham, the school system's interim chief financial officer, whose staff administered the fund.

Graham said the investment fund is designed to streamline the payment process so schools can "quickly get access to the money." If the money was in a general fund, she added, "we'd have to have a purchase order, an invoice and a receiving report" verifying that the service or merchandise was provided.

Cafritz said the board allowed Belton to deposit the $200,000 in charter school funds in the investment account to let the office carry over funds from year to year, a privilege not permitted in general accounts.

Natwar M. Gandhi, the city's chief financial officer, cut off the charter school office's access to the investment fund in the spring after learning of the federal investigation.

Patterson said the independent structure under which Belton operated would have worked had the school board properly supervised her.

Cafritz said she and Russell Smith, who until recently was the school board's executive director, tried a few years ago to get Belton to report to Smith. But Belton and the school board resisted, she said.

Last year, two independent studies, including one by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, found that many charter schools were floundering because of improper oversight. The board closed one of those schools, Jos-Arz Therapeutic, a special education facility in which the city invested more than $15 million. The board then established an ad hoc committee to oversee the charter office.

School board member JoAnne Ginsberg, who chairs that committee, said she became fed up with Belton for not showing up for work and for turning in reports that were late and sloppy. She said that she sought to have Belton fired but that Cafritz and the three other members of the committee opposed that.

A few months later, in June, the FBI and other federal officials raided Belton's office, confiscating computers and records. Belton was on paid administrative leave until two weeks ago, when the board voted to fire her.

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.