The Alabama State Department of Education is looking into allegations that Title 1 funds have been misappropriated through the Birmingham City Schools, state Superintendent Tommy Bice confirmed last week.
Asked if the state would investigate, Bice said on Sept. 18 that he was “already involved and reviewing.”
Subsequently, after Bice’s comments were made public, board President Randall Woodfin disputed that there is any investigation. “There is absolutely no investigation into the Birmingham school system and the misappropriation of Title 1 funds.” He went on to say that Bice’s comments were taken out of context.
However, prior to Bice making those comments, Weld had sent Bice an email asking specifically about the allegations:
Weld: “There have been allegations that Title 1 money was being used to fund schools that were not Title 1 (I’ve attached an approved agenda item from January 14 in which Title 1 funds were used to purchase Kaplan’s ACT prep package). Ramsay High School is a non-Title 1 school and was part of this Kaplan ACT prep. … My question for you is: will the Alabama State Department of Education be looking into this matter?”
Bice responded in an email as follows: “Already involved and reviewing.”
Since Bice’s initial response to the question about whether there would be an investigation into Title 1 funding, other representatives from the Alabama State Department of Education have sought to characterize the superintendent’s comment in less definite terms.
Erica Pippins, communications specialist for the state education department, said, “Dr. Bice’s comments were related to the state’s intervention status with Birmingham. They are continually reviewing their financial functions and educational programs. Any misappropriations would show up in that review.”
Former state Superintendent Dr. Ed Richardson is the head of the financial intervention team that has been overseeing financial operations with the BBOE since 2012. The review will continue until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Richardson oversaw the day-to-day financial operations of the BBOE until December of last year. “I left in December of 2013. So I have not had any further dealings with [the Birmingham Board of Education]. They do send me a copy of the proposed agenda and they send it to Dr. Bice, and he of course gives them the OK,” Richardson explained. “Dr. Bice has to approve the agenda items.”
Richardson said he was “not familiar with the Title 1 procedure. When I served in Dr. Bice’s position, sometimes you run into problems like that. The state is authorized, if that be the case, to withhold federal funds until it is straightened out. There can be some penalties. Ultimately the state is responsible for the federal funds. If there is a violation, they will tell Dr. Bice, ‘One of your school systems has a problem,’ and then he has to straighten it out,” Richardson continued.
The alleged misappropriation of Title 1 funds occurred after Richardson’s review team stopped overseeing BBOE’s financial operations. He said he did not expect his team would investigate the Title 1 issue.
“No, I don’t anticipate that,” Richardson said. “At this point, Dr. Bice, who has a head of the federal funds, would send a team to review that. He would send someone who is very familiar with the rules and regulations of federal funds. He would send someone to review any potential problems, but it would not require my attendance.”
The matter of Title 1 funds became a topic of some controversy after the BBOE held a special meeting Sept. 16 to vote on personnel issues, which some in the meeting believed had to do with misappropriation of federal funds. On Sept. 17 the specific purpose of the meeting was disclosed to the public, when the BBOE issued a statement that Tuesday’s vote had been to approve the resignation of Chief Academic Officer Tisha Nguyen and Supervisor of Curriculum Instruction, Assessment and Federal Programs Vanessa Peterson.
Ronald Jackson, the president of Citizens for Better Schools and Sustainable Communities said at the September 16 meeting that, “The [city] superintendent [Craig Witherspoon] is usurping the authority of the board. He has employed individuals who do not qualify for the positions they hold under Alabama education laws. One is the chief academic officer, and the other is Vanessa Peterson.”
However, Woodfin contended that “The issue wasn’t that people weren’t qualified for their position. The issue had to do with certification.”
Before Tuesday’s meeting, Jackson raised a question echoed by others who were in attendance. “How in the world did the school board hire her in the first place?” Jackson asked. “Who vetted her qualifications?”
Witherspoon said that since both employees in question were from out of state, the certification process was a little more complicated. “In this case, Alabama certification, among other things, was a requirement to hold the position,” he said.
“Since this employee was coming from out of state and already maintained appropriate certifications in that state, there is a process for obtaining Alabama certification. Generally, this process consists of first obtaining an emergency certification in this state and thereafter obtaining a permanent certification,” Witherspoon said.
“In the instant case, the employee did in fact obtain an emergency certification for this state and began the process for obtaining her permanent certification. However, while the process for obtaining the permanent certification was still pending, her emergency certification expired, thereby leaving her without an Alabama certification.”
Jackson, however, contends that the resignations are a “farce” and that the real issue has nothing to do with “qualifications and certifications.” Rather, Jackson said that “They used Title 1 money at Ramsay High School. It is not a Title 1-designated school by the [BBOE]. You cannot spend money on a non-qualified school. They only way you could do that is if this board made them such.”
Witherspoon denied that Title 1 funds were used for schools that were not approved. “The funding for non-Title 1 schools is being paid for through outside donations. This is completely legal and in line with applicable guidelines.”
However, an item on the school board agenda from Jan. 14, 2014, signed and dated by both Witherspoon and Nguyen, reads:
AGENDA ITEM: To approve the proposal as submitted by Kaplan K12 Learning Services LLC for ACT preparation.
RECOMMENDATION: That approval be granted to purchase the Diagnostic Testing package and Customized ACT Class package from Kaplan in the amount of $317,300.00.
RATIONALE: To provide our students with the tools, skills and confidence necessary to excel on the ACT test.
SOURCE OF FUNDS: Federal Funds- Title 1.
Over the past year, Ramsay High School, a non-Title 1 school, participated in the Kaplan ACT preparation program, which according to the board minutes used Title 1 funding.
Asked why Ramsay was allowed to participate in a program purchased by Title 1 funds, Witherspoon modified his previous statement. “Donated funds as an additional funding source was mistakenly omitted,” he said. “However, donated funds are being used for non-Title 1 schools.”
He did not provide any documentation to substantiate that comment.
Witherspoon also signed off on two other instances where Title 1 funds were apparently used at schools which did not qualify.
Birmingham Board of Education approved agenda Feb. 11, 2014
AGENDA ITEM: To approve the proposal as submitted by the Pearson School Systems.
RECOMMENDATION: That approval be granted to purchase the Schoolnet Instructional Management Suite software subscription, support and services from Pearson School Systems in the amount of $452,563.00
RATIONALE: The data dash board is a comprehensive tool to measure student’s performance and provide a clear path to achieve school and district performance goals.
SOURCE OF FUNDS: Title One
Richard Franklin, president of Birmingham’s chapter of the American Teachers Federation, explained that the issue with this particular agenda item is that “Pearson Schoolnet is used system-wide but was paid for with Title 1 money.”
According to Franklin, Nguyen and Peterson both used to work for Kaplan. “They were using Title 1 money to pay for Kaplan ACT prep program. They created a position for Peterson without certification which expired in 2010.”
The other agenda item in question dates from July 8, 2014:
AGENDA ITEM: To purchase the ST Math Secondary Intervention Program for all Middle and K-8 Schools and six high schools for 2014-2015
RECOMMENDATION: That approval be granted to purchase the ST Math Secondary Intervention Program. The cost includes onsite professional development and access to webinars and other online assistance. The program will be available for all struggling students in the lowest 25% of students in grades 6-12. Total cost is $121,600.
RATIONALE: To provide mathematics intervention to students to assist in their understanding of mathematics and thereby increase student achievement.
FUNDING SOURCE: Federal Funds
As for this particular agenda item, Franklin said, “It clearly states it’s for all elementary and middle schools. Not just Title 1 schools.”
After the Sept. 16 meeting, Jackson said, “There needs to be a thorough investigation of the use of federal program funds. There needs to be an investigation of Superintendent Witherspoon as to whether or not he is complying with school board policies. And they need to find out if [BBOE Chief Financial Officer Arthur] Watts, Woodfin and Witherspoon properly reported the misuse of those funds under the Alabama education code.”
UPDATE (9/22/14, 7:53 p.m.): Story updated significantly to add further commentary from school board representatives and more.