(InvestigateTV) — With the school year fast approaching, the U.S. Department of Education’s watchdog agency is issuing a warning: fraud in schools is real, costly, and often targets the nation’s most vulnerable students.
Assistant Inspector General of Investigations Jason Williams with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said federal education funds—intended for more than 100,000 schools across the country—are at risk of being misused or outright stolen.
“If they have access to funds, if there’s no separation of duties—people get greedy,” Williams said. “And then that’s when we find fraud.”
Williams said in many cases, the losses amount to millions of taxpayer dollars, often earmarked for children.
“These are elementary school kids. These are children with disabilities. These are our vocational rehab programs,” he said. “You’re taking that money away from them and they can’t use it for their education.”
He explained that oversight of federal funds varies among school districts.
“When you look at the controls that are in place, sometimes they’re lax,” he explained. “In some districts, you know, you have one person that’s also doing the purchasing but they’re also paying the credit card bill—and that’s what we call separation of duties. When these things aren’t in play, these things happen.”
Williams said warning signs can include duplicate invoices, missing equipment, lack of receipts or other documentation, and unusual vendor or purchasing activity.
Of the many fraud cases his office has investigated, Williams often recalls one particular case out of California.
“This particular district, 61 percent of their student population was eligible for Title 1, so it’s a very low-income district,” he shared. “He stole 16 million dollars over a number of years. He just pled guilty and he’s on his way to prison.”
Anyone that suspects fraud or theft in their school district should contact the OIG. People can report fraud, waste or abuse to their hotline.
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