Prince George’s County Public Schools Misused More than $150,000 in Funds

A recent federal audit uncovered almost $167,000 of questionable spending by Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) workers between 2009-2010, and another $124,000 that the school system was unable to provide adequate paperwork to explain, according to the Washington Examiner.

The audit, conducted by the United States Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, was launched to review how Prince George’s County and Baltimore City schools used federal grant money between 2009-2010.

Among the report’s findings were purchases of a mini refrigerator, a microwave, personalized pens and folders and engraved watches.

PGCPS was also unable to provide “adequate paperwork” to account for event catering, overpayment to vendors, electric bills and a “mother-daughter” tea, items among $124,000 in other unaccounted for spending.

Additionally, the audit discovered PGCPS staff using tablets for gaming (downloading Angry Birds and Words with Friends), religious study (downloading the Bible) and instant messaging via Skype.

PGCPS spokesman Briant Coleman responded to the allegations via email, saying “While we do not concur with a number of the findings, we do agree there is room for improvement and we will continue to work with [the U.S. Department of Education] to rectify this matter.”

The county argues that more than $124,368 of the $167,606 is permitted under the rules of the grants and believes it has paperwork backing up $95.994 of the other $123,889 auditors found.

The Maryland State Department of Education, the group responsible for administering the money echoed PGCPS spokesman Coleman’s comments, telling WBAL radio that it “partially agreed with the findings,” and “the department was adequately monitoring how the money was spent.”