Below is an older, early 2006 article about a Maricopa County, AZ School Superintendent, Sandra Dowling, who was arrested for running up a $4-million deficit in some special schools for the homeless that she controlled. She put a son and daughter on the payroll by circumventing hiring procedures, etc. However, there are not enough details to indicate the true cause of the deficit and we could not find the final result of the investigation.
This situation doesn't have any clear relationships to how local Lake County Schools are run, but again is an indicator that School Districts somehow seem to have a high degree of frauds and mismanagement vs other government agencies. This example may indicate the lack of informed accounting advisors and the Supt. ran operations of three schools for homeless children without much oversight.
See also the second article dated 11 months later, indicating the issues still have not been resolved, but Dowling, the Superintendent, WAS "recently indicted on suspicion of 25 crimes including theft and misuse of more than $1.8 million from a fund she controlled as superintendent."
vj
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from:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/57799 (Phoenix area)
January 26, 2006 - 9:59AM
Criminal inquiry targets head of county schools
Gary Grado, Tribune
The Maricopa County school superintendent is under criminal investigation after a renowned school she founded for homeless children had a budget deficit of $4 million.
Detectives with the county sheriff ’s office on Wednesday raided Sandra Dowling’s office, home and the administrative offices of the Maricopa County Regional School District, looking for evidence of bid rigging, nepotism, malfeasance of office and misuse of public funds, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Dowling, a Republican, is the second county officeholder to be investigated in two years.
Former County Assessor Kevin Ross, also a Republican, was convicted in December 2004 of conflict of interest.
Dowling’s attorney, Craig Mehrens, said the allegations come from disgruntled ex-employees of the school district and have left Dowling in shock.
Dowling wears two hats for the county.
She has been elected to five terms as the county school superintendent, whose duties include serving as the fiscal agent for school districts, maintaining records for home schooled students, and providing services to school districts and private and charter schools.
The budget for that portion of her job is intact, county officials say.
Dowling’s problems are with the Maricopa County Regional School District, which operates the three Thomas J. Pappas Schools for homeless children funded by taxpayers, grants and private donations, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
Dowling, 48, opened the first of two Phoenix Pappas schools in 1989 and a Tempe campus at 1640 E. Apache Blvd. in 2001. She also successfully lobbied lawmakers to change federal law so homeless children could be segregated.
Dowling is the sole board member and has full spending discretion for the district, which since 2000 has run budget deficits ranging from $544,000 to $3.7 million in 2005, according to the warrant affidavit.
Dowling asked the County Board of Supervisors about two weeks ago for funds to cover the deficit, but then refused to let them see her books, said Al Macias, county spokesman.
The Board of Supervisors served Dowling with a civil subpoena to force her to disclose the financial information. Dowling went so far as to try to hide in her car when deputies attempted to serve her with the subpoena, the search warrant said.
County auditors estimate the deficit to be as high as $4.2 million now, Macias said.
Mehrens said Dowling’s civil attorneys have been working with the county’s attorneys to provide the records they want.
Mehrens pointed out that Tom Horne, state superintendent of public instruction, conducted an audit of Dowling’s deficit in November and found “three basic justifiable reasons” for it: Unfunded transportation costs, excess utilities and the county equalization shortage.
Current and former employees interviewed by detectives said, however, that Dowling had questionable spending practices and used the district to provide employment to her family.
A check of financial records by the sheriff’s own internal auditor found that Dowling’s spending practices were “abnormal and potentially unlawful,” the warrant states.
Allegations at a glance
Some of the allegations against Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Sandra Dowling:
• Dowling’s son earned $32,000 as a teacher’s aide for the Maricopa County Regional School District while he developed his landscaping business.
• Dowling’s son won the district’s landscaping bid — with annual billing of $25,000 to $40,000 after all other bids were found to be invalid.
• Dowling’s daughter was hired as an assistant principal, and to get around her lack of state-required qualifications, was given the title of “coordinator.”
• Hired legal counsel at a cost of $156,000 over three years when she had free access to the county attorney’s office.
SOURCE: Search warrant affidavit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.
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This article 11 months later indicates there was no real conclusion to this case, but Dowling is still working, although stripped of financial control of funds by the judge. The case goes on...
December 1, 2006 - 10:38AM
Judge strips Dowling of budget job
Jennifer Pinner, Tribune
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge removed Sandra Dowling as budget overseer of the Maricopa County Regional School District on Thursday and created a three-person governing board for that duty.
The judge’s action means Dowling no longer manages the district’s finances, although she remains the Maricopa County superintendent of schools even as she fights an indictment accusing her of theft.
Judge Kenneth Fields created the “receiver board” to get an accurate picture of the district’s finances, which has left teachers at the Thomas J. Pappas schools for homeless children without paychecks this month.
However, the teachers may soon get their checks. Late Thursday, the Arizona Department of Education agreed to release a funding advancement to the school district to pay the instructors.
Lisa Keegan, spokeswoman for the board of supervisors, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne would not release the money earlier this month because of the county schools’ current administration. Advances can be given only when a district has proven sufficiently that it will have the funds at the end of the year.
Horne approved the advance as soon as the new board was created.
“The district shouldn’t have run out (of money) in the first place,” Keegan said.
As county superintendent, Dowling was the sole member of the regional school district’s governing board and managed the district’s budget. She was recently indicted on suspicion of 25 crimes including theft and misuse of more than $1.8 million from a fund she controlled as superintendent.
The new board will review the district’s finances and report the findings to the judge, who will decide the district’s fate. Any money flowing through the district from now on will have to be approved by the panel and the judge.
Two panelists have been appointed: Chuck Essigs, a lobbyist for the Arizona Association of School Business Officials and former business manager of Mesa Unified School District, and Nancy Haas, an education professor at Arizona State University West who is nationally known for her academic work relating to homeless education. The pair will choose the final board member.
No one opposed Essigs’ appointment, but the district’s lawyer, David Cantelme, and Pappas school officials and teachers strongly objected to Haas.
“You’re appointing the bitterest of opponents” of the Pappas schools, Cantelme told Fields. “You cannot appoint the executioner.”
Cantelme said Haas is against sending homeless students to a school apart from mainstream students.
“Hopefully, people will set aside their personalities and biases and set aside their past. Those kids already have enough challenges in their lives,” Essigs said. “They need adults sitting down in a thoughtful way and planning for their future.”
