V Mismanagement and Negligence with School Funds Harms the Minority Community
SUMMARY
An auditor performed a special Community Review of the audits of the Detroit Public Schools expenditures and
reported that anomalies have not been corrected within an acceptable time frame.
DETAILS
Patricia Singleton was elected to the school board in November of 2014 and began as a School Board Member
in January of 2015. In February of 2015, Linda Taylor, a Southfield, Michigan CPA who independently
reviewed audits for the District, made Patricia Singleton and the Board aware that for several years of
Emergency Management financial anomalies appear in audits of the Detroit Public Schools Budget that have
not been adequately corrected from year to year and continue. This is includes a gross misrepresentation of tax
revenue. Some of the anomalies are large, some are small, but none have been corrected.
For example, the auditor found Federal Awards Findings and Questioned Costs of $934,750, and Executed
Contracts and Procurement Discrepancies of $2,225,000. When schools are closed, poor children are forced to
spend their own money ($3.00-$6.25) each day to get to schools without enough books, and sit in overcrowded
classrooms, and the Emergency Manager takes a $50,000 bonus these anomalies that have been reported and
recently made public and have come to the attention of the community on April 27, 2015 from the review of an
accountant, then certainly, the community deserves an explanation.
The mismanagement of the Detroit Public Schools budget does not help meet educational goals of the district,
puts minority students at a disadvantage, is not the best way to account for funds, and is not an acceptable
practice.
ADVERSE IMPACT
Tax payers deserve well defined systems for accurate financial reporting, and for anomalies to be corrected in a
timely fashion. When branches of government are replaced by some other extraordinary method of governance
without checks and balances, it is still a responsibility to provide the community with ethical use of tax dollars,
accurate financial reporting, and timely corrections to any anomalies that occur.
DISPARATE TREATMENT
That a minority community’s choice of leadership to oversee management of their finances would be replaced
by an appointed person so that they have no local say is with the justification of “fiscal solvency” and then not
provide the minority community an accurate financial reporting by those appointed to oversee their community
dollars like white school districts receive, has been described by many complainants as making them feel
“unequal”, “likes slaves”, “like sharecroppers”, and under “taxation without representation” soley because of
their race.
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