Recent theft allegations against two metro Atlanta school bookkeepers highlight the challenge officials face in securing sums of money raised by hundreds of schools to pay for things like student trips, class rings or caps and gowns.
In mid-September, authorities in Clayton County reported nearly $3,000 in senior fees missing from Riverdale High School. The school bookkeeper was accused but denied taking the money. In DeKalb County, former Lithonia High School bookkeeper Stephine Barkley signed an affidavit admitting she stole $15,000 and that taking the money became “almost like an addiction.” District officials say a total of $59,000 is missing.
An independent system of checks and balances is crucial, but such security costs money. When times are tight and budgets get cut, it can be harder to prevent theft.
Officials in Clayton wouldn’t comment about their case, citing an ongoing investigation. The district’s internal auditors conduct annual reviews, but officials couldn’t say whether this latest incident would change procedures.
The incident in DeKalb was uncovered by an audit ordered after the principal grew suspicious: banking records she requested took longer than usual to produce. The district initially announced that $46,000 was unaccounted for, but revised that number upward as the investigation progressed.
The crime has further eroded public confidence in a district with a history of financial problems. “I think it’s indicative of what’s been going on with the lack of transparency in finance,” said James Waddell, whose son attends Southwest DeKalb High School. “I don’t think the bookkeepers in DeKalb County have been properly vetted. Oversight is lackadaisical to nonexistent.”
In 2011, two DeKalb bookkeepers pleaded guilty after funds disappeared from school accounts.
This latest DeKalb theft prompted Superintendent Michael Thurmond to order financial reviews at all schools with “significant cash flows.” Joel Thibodeaux, who runs the district’s auditing unit, said the review will cover 22 schools with proceeds in excess of $100,000 apiece. DeKalb has 137 schools, but Thibodeaux has only four auditors, three of them hired in the last school year. “We could probably use more,” he said. All DeKalb schools are on an audit schedule that will take two to three years to complete; Thibodeaux said he would need 10 auditors to conduct annual reviews.
Other metro Atlanta districts have continued to conduct annual school audits, despite budgetary pressures.
In Cobb County, school finance chief Brad Johnson said that when the cost of paying staff to audit all 114 schools grew too high, the district found a cheaper alternative rather than eliminating the oversight.
“We used to have an in-house audit, but now we’ve farmed it out,” he said. Cobb didn’t want to diminish the perceived risk of being caught, he said. “You want the threat of an audit to always be out there.”
Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia’s largest district, maintains a central office staff to audit school accounts each year, vet all bookkeeper job candidates, provide ongoing training and maintain an oft-updated manual of procedures that bookkeepers must follow and principals must check.
The district isn’t immune to theft, but hasn’t had a known incident involving a bookkeeper since 2010, said Rick Cost, the system’s finance chief. That case, at Meadowcreek High School, inspired additional security, such as monthly reviews of school bank accounts. The goal, he said: “Keep these good, honest bookkeepers that we have from being tempted.”
Atlanta has undertaken some changes with minimal cost, such as consolidating all school accounts at one bank to make them easier to track. But the district still pays a staff of auditors to keep tabs on schools. “Two things contribute to the risk of theft,” said district CFO Chuck Burbridge, a former director of audits for KPMG: “motive and opportunity.” The economy has created enough financial hardship to generate more motive, he said, so the district can’t afford to lower its guard. Indeed, Atlanta is investigating two cases of potential theft that Burbridge said he couldn’t discuss.
The amount of money at stake is small relative to overall school district budgets, which run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Atlanta school bookkeepers probably oversee less than $5 million, Burbridge said, but the money — raised from student fees, parent fundraisers and other local efforts — carries a hefty symbolic value.
“What you’re really looking at here is reputational risk,” Burbridge said. “You’re talking about the trust of the community.”
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