State to check oversight of Title I spending

The State Board of Education is questioning whether its checks on Title I spending are as tight as they can be in light of a federal indictment alleging two former Davis School District employees defrauded the district of nearly $4.3 million of the federal funds.

Chairman Kim Burningham said the matter came up Friday in his and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington's monthly meeting with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

"He was extremely curious to know" of any movement in the matter, Burningham said. "Money comes to us from the federal government and we are the agency that passes it through. What degree of oversight then do we have on the expenditure of those funds in the future?"

The state board in its January meeting will discuss what the law allows it to do, whether its current checks are sufficient and whether it needs to investigate more to avoid future problems, Burningham said.

"I would expect a second step from that might be we would want to investigate some of the ideas that might come up in the board discussion and pursue them legislatively or otherwise," Burningham said.

The move did not come at the behest of the governor, who is interested generally in the federal investigation, spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said.

"His interest is that of taxpayer money," Roskelley said. "It's an issue that's concerning to him ... he's just seeking updated information."

Former Davis District employees Susan and John Ross were indicted last month on 47 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, theft of government funds and copyright infringement and defrauding the district of $4.3 million in federal Title I funds between 2000 and 2005.

Prosecutors allege that while working as Davis' Title I director, Susan Ross used a shell company to sell pirated education materials back to the schools at inflated prices.

Husband John Ross was working as the district's grant writer at the time.

Stella Smith, who was Susan Ross' secretary, was also indicted on charges of running an embezzlement scheme. Smith is charged with 37 counts of mail fraud, accused of creating fake book orders and charging the school district for some $338,000 in books it never received.

Smith and the Rosses have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Since the investigation began 1 1/2 years ago, district leaders have instituted new safeguards to alert them to questionable activity sooner. District officials now look at the frequency of orders with vendors as well as the amount of those dollars.

Moreover, the schools themselves are now responsible for how Title I money is spent at their site.

The state school board now will look at its role.