District of Columbia Public Schools officials “misused” federal grants designed to help the children of migrant workers, and the city will now cooperate with an ongoing federal investigation, a spokeswoman for the D.C. attorney general told The Examiner on Monday.
“We have investigated this issue and believe that over the past few years, DCPS misused these federal grants funds,” spokeswoman Melissa Merz said in an e-mail. “We are working with the Justice Department and DCPS to resolve this issue and ensure that it does not happen again.”
The Examiner reported Friday that the federal government was threatening to bring a fraud suit to recoup millions of dollars that went out under a federal program designed help educate the children of migrant farm workers and fishermen.
The District has received migrant education grants since 1980. A 2005 audit found that there were no such children in the system.
Monday’s admission from the city’s attorney may prove costly. The False Claims Act entitles the victim of fraud to triple the amount lost and provides for up to $11,000 in fines per offense. Each of the thousands of students claimed by D.C. officials for decades could constitute a separate offense.
The federal investigation, which also may lead to criminal charges, was kept from top city officials, including Mayor Adrian Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, until The Examiner began asking questions about it.
For some, it’s yet another indication that the Fenty administration may have gotten itself into more than it bargained for when it lobbied to take over the $1 billion-plus school system.
“The question is, ‘What’s going on in the administration?’ ” said D.C. Council Member Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, a former member of the D.C. Board of Education.
Wells said he plans to press city officials on what’s going on in the schools — and what they’re doing to keep the public abreast.
“That’s part of our oversight function,” he said. “That’s why we voted to give the mayor control of the schools.”
One aide to Fenty, who spoke on condition of anonymity because personnel matters are supposed to be private, said that the administration is planning a clean sweep of the bureaucracy but is focused on getting the schools open for fall classes first.
By the numbers
Federal migrant education grants to D.C. schools, fiscal 2000-04
» 2000: $445,700
» 2001: $501,440
» 2002: $449,458
» 2003: $402,622
» 2004: $450,232
Source: U.S. Department of Education
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