State investigators studying Stockton Unified School District finances are looking to see if recent purchases, contracts and other financial decisions weren’t just ill-advised but illegal.
The San Joaquin County Office of Education hired these financial detectives in February after it deemed allegations of fraud within SUSD to be credible. At the same time, the county’s Civil Grand Jury investigated SUSD. The grand jury released its second-consecutive unfavorable report about Stockton’s largest school district in June, which indicated the district faces a $30 million deficit within two years.
The state’s Financial Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) investigators out of Bakersfield took the case.
This is not the first time FCMAT has studied SUSD’s fiscal policies. Much of the grand jury’s most-recent report focused on the findings of a previous FCMAT investigation.
But that was a regular, yearly audit that all school districts undergo. This “extraordinary” audit is quite different.
“In those regular audits you aren’t looking for fraud, although you might find it,” said Mike Fine, FCMAT’s chief executive officer. “In this audit, we’re specifically looking for it.”
And Fine said they expect to find it. In more than 90% of the extraordinary audits FCMAT has performed in the past five years, cases could be made for fraud, misappropriation of funds or other illegal uses of public money.
“It isn’t 100%, but it’s close,” he said. “By the time these allegations get to us, they’ve been fairly well vetted.”
The investigatory process takes money and time. The price tag for an audit of this magnitude can reach $250,000, Fine said. Ultimately, the California Department of Education will pay for it. Auditors may spend a year or more performing all the needed inquiries before FCMAT releases its findings to SUSD, the county school’s office and, by law, the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Tori Verber-Salazar said she looks forward to reading the audit report. If it gets to her desk before she leaves office in January and any potential crimes rise to the level that she can prosecute, Verber-Salazar said her office would do so.
“As long as we have the evidence to do so beyond a reasonable doubt, I guarantee you we will work relentlessly on this,” she said. “We will fully hold anybody accountable that steals money from children.”
Attempts to contact Stockton Unified School District officials and San Joaquin County District Attorney-elect Ron Freitas for comment were unsuccessful.
How can we share this to our social media
Robert,
There are two ways to share.
1. Copy the story’s URL and paste it into your social media
2. Follow us on our social media channels and share
Thanks,
Stocktonia News Service
Yes , and teachers have to buy supplies for themselves & students ( WHY) ???? I’m sure that this isn’t the only school district that is corrupt… our poor kids .
Anthony Silva is as corrupt as they come and he needs to be investigated for being involved in contracts with the district where there were no bids, or there were lower bids, but because he had the majority of the votes on the school board, he or his corrupt partners were given the contract. Will the FBI do the investigation? What about the SJCOE? Who will bring this to light?
Four months after John Ramirez Jr. became superintendent of SUSD, the school district hired 209 Times founder Motec Patrick Sanchez at a yearly salary of $136k as “director” of Family Resource Centers. A recent LA Times article reports that district employees raised concerns the position was awarded to fend off harsh criticism from 209 Times. This appointment and Mr. Sanchez’s performance needs to be investigated.
Anthony Silva is as corrupt as they come and he needs to be investigated for being involved in contracts with the district where there were no bids, or there were lower bids, but because he had the majority of the votes on the school board, he or his corrupt partners were given the contract. Will the FBI do the investigation? What about the SJCOE? Who will bring this to light?