Politics & Government

Questions Arise After School Board Millions Found

Thad Mayfield was the only one of the stunned board to make a comment upon hearing the news.

By Kirk Lunde

With the AJC reporting that Mr. Thurmond’s outside experts “found $7 million in unaccounted for revenue in the current fiscal year” and “an additional $21 million” in “revenue that had gone unnoticed” for the next fiscal year, several thoughts come to mind.

The first thought after the incredulous expletives is, “Mr. Thurmond, do you believe us now?” Mr. Thurmond has been told many anecdotal stories of the “Friends and Family” network and of the financial tricks used to hide and spend money in the DeKalb County School District (DCSD).

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He has indicated he doesn’t take any of them at face value which is the correct approach to take. However, now that he has witnessed first-hand how the books have been cooked for years, does he believe us now?

The next thought in my small mind is, “What about accountability?” Board of Education Member Thad Mayfield was the only one of the stunned board to make a comment upon hearing the news. As usual he asked a very perceptive and probing question. Was it a process error or an oversight error? Thurmond replied it was both.

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In the corporate world people who miss nearly $30 million dollars in revenue would be looking for a new job. As we know from multiple examples, the DCSD standard operating procedure is to just move people who make mistakes to new positions and keep paying them the same amount. That is the culture I asked Mr. Thurmond and the BOE to change.

The financial department is working with systems that don’t follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The chart of accounts does not line up with the State Department of Education required chart of accounts. The school system operates on a cash accounting basis. There are many process errors.

Do not treat this windfall as a Christmas morning present or scratch-off lottery ticket. No bonuses for senior administrators. Apply it to the outstanding debt. Then use some of the found revenue to replace or rebuild the financial system. That is one part of rebuilding the infrastructure of DCSD which I wrote about earlier.

If there is any left over, bring in outside help to implement the recommendations of the HR audits Dr. Atkinson paid her friends to do. The central office is not competent enough to handle the day-to-day operations of the district. How can we expect them to make improvements?

Interim Superintendent Thurmond - thank you for recognizing the need for outside experts to help out. Now that you have some money, please invest it in some more. The employees you have now are not up to the job of moving forward. Do you believe us now?

Related content on Tucker Patch:
Millions in Overlooked Revenue Shocks DeKalb School Board
More by Kirk Lunde


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