In the absence of state funding, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says many school districts already have borrowed money or may need to.
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He explained his plan in a mere 41 seconds at a Capitol news conference on Tuesday where he announced his auditors will begin to calculate the cost of the impasse on a school district as part of the routine district audits his office does. That’s why DePasquale said he’s putting negotiators on notice now.
The deal surrounded a proposed charter school and the building that will house the school district’s new high school.
DePasquale said he will look to see whether there were any violations of the Sunshine and Ethic acts.
DePasquale said he’s concerned that school districts with junk or near-junk bond ratings could have trouble getting loans.
DePasquale made the decision last month after reading a Morning Call report that showed school officials knew about, but made no public mention of a side agreement with developer Atiyeh regarding charter schools.
Smith said the district is not hiding anything.
“We have full transparency”, Smith said.
“There have been questions raised about the charter application process”, DePasquale said.
The audit review could include interviews with staff and school board members as well as digging into e-mails, contracts and other paper records.
The audit should be done by early spring, DePasquale said. He says the current method of driving out state funds means the impact of the budget stalemate is uneven.
“They are serving some of the most challenged kids financially in the entire state”, DePasquale said.
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“I’m also going to be very interested to hear what happens with the charter school application investigation”, Tretter said.
