Jul 29, 2008 7:01 pm US/Eastern
Dept. Of Education Taken To Task Over Expenses
Audit Finds Money Is Often Spent Frivolously, Often Wasted
Reporting
Cindy Hsu
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Every dollar counts when it comes to New York City schools, but an audit of the Department of Education has found the folks who need to tighten their belts the most are those at the Central Office when it comes to certain expenses.
Parents are concerned about cutbacks in the classroom, but an audit report found the DOE should be cutting back when it comes to travel expenses.
The Department's Central Office spent nearly $5 million last year on things like trips and retreats. The Comptroller's office says many of the expenses couldn't be justified.
"There was a retreat in the Catskills. Thirty people were expected to show up and the department spent $12,000. Only 18 showed up at a cost of $5,000. That's New York City tax dollars," said Comptroller's office spokesperson Jeff Simmons.
There's a limit on how much school employees can spend for food when they're traveling, but the audit found they went way over the limit.
Thousands of MetroCards were also an issue.
"We looked at more than 10,000 MetroCards that were on hand at a cost of more than $40,000. No justification could be provided for what those MetroCards were used for," Simmons said.
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he's looking into the findings, and is already working on some of the changes suggested by the Comptroller, such as having written justification for overnight events, and making sure employees find the lowest prices when it comes to travel.
"As far as procedures, he's made some suggestions," Klein said. "Kathleen and her team will be implementing them we already put in place on on-line review process, so I think there was constructive engagement."
The report has 14 recommendations for the DOE, on how to better manage its travel expenses and the Comptroller's office will follow up to see just how many recommendations the DOE actually follows.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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