Audits Obtained by Parents Show More Misspent Funds

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 23, 2008

For a second consecutive year, parent activists are calling attention to a pattern of accounting problems in the use of student funds at some Montgomery County high schools.

Periodic audits of student activity funds find that school administrators frequently fail to follow protocol in recording how money is spent. In some cases, thousands of dollars intended to be spent on students are instead spent on teachers. In other cases, schools appear to be making a profit from course or test fees that are supposed to cover -- but not exceed -- the school's costs. Some schools are running five-figure deficits.

The audits, obtained by leaders of the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County through public records requests this year and last, portray mostly poor record-keeping, and a tendency of some schools to use their Independent Activity Funds as personal pocketbooks. The money is collected from student fees, ticket proceeds and fundraisers, and is supposed to be spent for students' benefit.

Attention is heightened this year because of an ongoing dispute over course fees. Montgomery secondary schools collect fees for a wide variety of course materials. Leaders of the parent advocacy group have assailed the practice, saying all course materials should be part of the free public education guaranteed by law. School system officials contend that many fees are proper but concede that they are inconsistent from school to school and that reform is necessary.

"The important thing is that we conduct these audits on ourselves," said Brian Edwards, chief of staff to School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. "We do this because it's good fiduciary responsibility."

School system leaders and principals pledged to improve their record-keeping after a round of negative publicity surrounding audits last fall. Several recent audits suggest that there has been improvement but that glaring problems remain. Parent leaders contend all audits should be posted on the school system's Web site, a concept with which a few school system leaders agree.

"I have no problem with putting that material out there," said Stephen Abrams, the school board member who represents Rockville and Potomac.

The most critical audit unearthed by parents this fall concerns Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. There, according to a July audit, at least $15,000 in student funds was spent on food, lodging, jackets, shirts, flowers and gift cards for teachers and other adults. The expenses include $9,372 for a "leadership retreat" in Cambridge, $5,148 for restaurant meals, $1,142 for jackets and $383 for shirts.

Abrams characterized the audit findings on Richard Montgomery and other high schools as "more fuss and sloppiness" than malfeasance. "We had very little trouble tracing money," he said.

But some parents say they are outraged at what appears to be a lax attitude toward the student funds at several schools.

Seneca Valley High School, for instance, was found to be charging excessive course fees and then allowing the funds to accumulate, rather than spending them to benefit the students from whom they were collected, which is their proper use.

"We recommend care be exercised," wrote auditor Roger Pisha in the May document, to ensure "all fees charged are approved and used to benefit students currently enrolled."

At Poolesville High School, a cash advance of $2,000 was given to an unidentified person to purchase musical instruments, but subsequent documentation showed only $882 was spent.

Einstein High School in Kensington used $4,300 in student funds for movie passes, gift cards, meals and T-shirts, with many of the goods going to staff members rather than students.

Wootton High School in Rockville collected $5,000 from an outside group for renting school facilities. Although the incident has no bearing on student fees, the school broke county rules that require an independent agency to handle rental of school buildings.

Parent leaders said they found numerous examples of schools reporting an end-of-year balance in accounts fed by student fees, indicating that the course or exam fees are not being spent on the students from whom they were collected.

They also cited instances of schools reporting thousands of dollars in cellphone expenses. "Haven't they heard of a family plan?" one parent noted in an Internet posting.

Einstein Fair Attracts 100 Colleges' Recruiters

Einstein High School's college fair, held Oct. 13, is one of the largest such events in the region, a noteworthy feat for a school where more than one-third of students are economically disadvantaged.

Alies Muskin, a former school board candidate, started the fair a decade ago by inviting some colleges to send admissions staff to the school. The event has since grown from about 20 colleges and universities to 100.

"Each year, a few more came," Cynthia Frank, a parent organizer, said in an e-mail.

Muskin said the fair was created "with the hope that colleges would consider students at Einstein, since few schools at that time came to Einstein for interviews."