The Georgia Department of Education has determined that the Dougherty County School District is not eligible to receive at least $10 million in federal funds because of concerns that the district has inflated the number of students who qualify for federal meal assistance. The agency also said the district has not properly overseen federal grant programs.
Large chunks of the federal funding that goes to school districts is based on the number of poor students in a district who qualify for federal meal assistance.
The department's move is an extraordinary step, one no one at the department can recall being taken before. If a district is found to use federal funds in inappropriate ways, the state is responsible for paying the money back.
"Our teams have been down there and worked with them and worked with them and worked with them," Georgia Schools Superintendent John Barge said. "They're not where they need to be."
Efforts to reach Dougherty County officials Thursday were unsuccessful.
The district, which includes the southwestern Georgia town of Albany, has had its share of troubles in recent years. Investigations found that it and the Atlanta Public Schools system were major hubs for standardized test cheating in 2009.
The cheating investigation in Dougherty County also uncovered evidence that a principal in the district and her husband had falsely claimed that they were eligible for a free lunch program reserved for the poor. The couple was indicted, and similar charges were filed against Dougherty County School Board Member Velvet Riggins based on a tip to police, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported.
The governor removed Riggins from office earlier this month, according to the Albany Herald.
Losing $10 million for this school year would be a big blow for the district, whose operating budget is listed on its website as $114.8 million. The district could still receive the money if it complies with federal documentation requirements and clears up questions about the number of students who are eligible for federal meal assistance.
Hearing about possible misuse of the federal meal assistance program in Dougherty, the Georgia Department of Education attempted to investigate it in late May, state documents show.
Department officials, however, were denied access to program records when they visited the district, according to a letter the department wrote to Dougherty Schools Superintendent Joshua Murfree Jr.
The state warned Dougherty in that letter that it could place a hold on all federal funds that are distributed to districts based on the number of students who qualify for federal meal assistance.
In addition to questions about how many Dougherty students actually qualify for federal meal assistance, state officials also had concerns about the district's oversight of other federal grant programs.
Dougherty receives money from the federal School Improvement Grant program, from a program created to assist homeless students and from the Race to the Top program.
All programs require the district to provide detailed documentation that it is meeting program targets, and state officials said Dougherty refused to provide that documentation.
For Race to the Top and other federal program assistance, Georgia asks the federal government for funding on behalf of districts in the state. If those districts spend that money in ways that are later determined to be inappropriate, Georgia would be required to repay that money with its own funds.
"That ain't gonna happen," said state Board of Education member Larry Winter, who was briefed on the department's determination that Dougherty is ineligible for federal funds.
At this point, Dougherty funds that are being held up include $1.6 million in SIG funds, $46,000 in homeless student funds and $8.36 million in other federal funds that are tied to the number of students who qualify for federal meal assistance.
Dougherty was awarded a Race to the Top grant, but the department's chief financial officer, Scott Austensen, said the state will not distribute money to the district unless or until it clears up questions about the number of students who qualify for meal assistance and provides the documentation other federal grant programs require.
"What we're hopeful of is that they will comply," Winter said. "It's not like any of this is a surprise. They are now the masters of their own fate. If they comply, they will get the money. If they don't, they won't."
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