Wednesday, June 24, 2015

GEORGIA WATCHDOGS NEWS


June 22, 2015
Is Gwinnett County Public Schools violating the Georgia constitution? Gwinnett’s Special Treatment, Over a 5 year period, Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) used $750,000 of education funds to pay the salaries of Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce executives. Incredibly, GCPS claimed paying those salaries resulted in a return on investment of $6,000,000. That is a better return on investment than what Bernie Madoff promised his victims. An open records request revealed the only documentation to support this incredible claim was a Gwinnett Chamber/Partnership Gwinnett annual report. GCPS is STILL making these payments and STILL has nothing but an annual report to justify the payments. Gwinnett County Public Schools claims it got a better return on investment than BERNIE MADOFF! by: Sabrina Smith
 
Dear School Board Members In All Georgia School Districts:
If you were using education funds to pay the salaries of executives at your local chamber of commerce, classifying the salaries in your budget as banking fees, serving on a committee that put in writing its willingness to lobby a judge in a tax apportionment lawsuit, paying an organization that published a report telling you they would support your effort to defeat the charter school constitutional amendment, and blatantly violating the Georgia Open Records Act, do you think the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Attorney General would look the other way?
What if, when these actions were made public, it was decided to “fix” the problem by creating a new entity called PG PFE? Would you then enter into a contract with PG PFE to pay the salaries of its employees, even if it had NO employees? Would you sign a contract with and pay this entity that has no employees because it claims it could ENSURE that public schools achieve award-winning success? Would you pay this entity with no employees to provide businesses and residents with competitive infrastructure capacity? (Is building bridges a school board responsibility?) Would you violate the Open Records Act by saying you were not the owner of your own documents?

When asked why they were paying the salaries of Gwinnett Chamber executives, GCPS released this statement:
 
Background on Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Involvement in Partnership Gwinnett – February 2012
In 2006, Gwinnett County did not have a coherent, proactive focus on economic development. As a result, the county frequently lost new business to neighboring cities and states with a more aggressive and focused economic development posture. Additionally, insufficient attention was being paid to encouraging expansion of local businesses already operating in the county. The consequence for Gwinnett was that the county’s tax base was not as robust as it needed to be in order to meet the demands of Gwinnett’s growing and changing population.
The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce responded to this negative reality by establishing an innovative economic development vehicle within the Chamber. Partnership Gwinnett was comprised of the Chamber, Gwinnett County Government, the Gwinnett healthcare community, and numerous local businesses and community-based organizations. Realizing the highly favorable reputation of Gwinnett County Public Schools and its positive impact in attracting and retaining businesses for the county, the Chamber invited the school district to be actively involved in Partnership Gwinnett.
Due to the funding restrictions and limitations on a local school district, GCPS could not and did not make a monetary contribution to Partnership Gwinnett. The funds we allocated to support Partnership Gwinnett had to be dedicated to expenditures for which the district received a service in return. Therefore, we elected to fund two positions for the Partnership Gwinnett initiative devoted fulltime to economic development strategies. Increasing the county’s business/industry tax base benefits all in the county. It promotes innovation, creates jobs, increases the county’s wealth, and generates revenue that is sorely needed to fund the services provided by entities like Gwinnett County Government and Gwinnett County Public Schools.
In response to the Chamber’s invitation, CEO/Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks approached the Gwinnett County Board of Education about the district appropriately joining the Partnership Gwinnett initiative. The Board agreed with the benefits outlined and the funding approach identified. The Board insisted that the funding be done on an annual basis and that the benefits of the district’s involvement be evaluated each year.
With the economic downturn that struck in 2007-08 and continues today, the significant value of Partnership Gwinnett to our county’s economic vitality has become even more apparent. In its first five years, Partnership Gwinnett generated over $800 million in economic development, boosting the school district’s revenue from the local tax base by more than $6 million. The proactive and productive economic development posture for Gwinnett County continues to reap benefits for the school district, which has been able to balance its budget without raising the operational millage rate during these difficult economic times. Unfortunately, this is not a joke.
 
An open records request to GCPS turned up not one single shred of paper except for a chamber annual report to substantiate their claim that they received $6,000,000 in return for paying chamber salaries.
 
“As indicated in our earlier conversation, these types of payroll expenditures do not appear to meet the criteria in Official Code of Georgia Annotated §20-2-411 which states, "The school funds shall be used to pay the salaries of personnel and to pay for the utilization of school facilities and for no other purpose."
We recommend the Department of Education seek legal advice from the State Attorney General's office regarding the legality of these types of expenditures and take appropriate action with Gwinnett County Board of Education based on the outcome.”
Suzanne L. Hatfield, CPA, CGFM
Deputy Director
Department of Audits and Accounts
Education Audit Division
 
There are no minutes of a meeting of the school board to document what was discussed even though board members said they approved the plan and insisted that the benefits of the district’s involvement be evaluated each year. “It was not a matter that we took a vote on because, according to policy, there are some things I can do,” GCPS Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks said in an interview with the AJC. Open records requests show no evaluation was ever done, despite the board’s insistence that it be done annually. GCPS Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks has a spending limit of $1 million. By comparison, the State School Superintendent has a spending limit of only $50,000.
After a complaint was filed with the Georgia Department of Education in 2012, then-Georgia School Superintendent John Barge requested that an auditor review the payments GCPS had made for salaries of Gwinnett Chamber employees, using education funds. This is her 9-13-12 email

Thursday, November 01, 2012 7:48 PM To: Dennis Dunn (ddunn@law.ga.gov) Subject: FW: Funding of Two Positions at Partnership Gwinnett by Gwinnett County Public Schools Dear Dennis: In August, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) received an inquiry from a concerned citizen related to the appropriateness of Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) paying the salaries of two employees at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Later that month, in accordance with our general practice, this inquiry was forwarded to the Department of Audits and Accounts (DOA) for review as part of the annual financial audit of the school district. In September the DOA responded indicating that, since GCSS was not denying the payments were made to the local Chamber of Commerce, it did not believe any additional review by the Department of Audits and Accounts would provide any additional assurances regarding the propriety of these types of expenditures. The DOA went on to recommend that GaDOE seek legal advice from the State Attorney General's office about the legality of these expenditures since they "appear" to violate O.C.G.A. Section 20-2-411. Following receipt of the DOA's response, staff at GaDOE and GCPS began communications about these expenses. During these discussions we learned, for example, that the two employees were actually economic development specialists with Partnership Gwinnett, Inc., which is an initiative of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Our communications culminated in GCPS submitting written documentation outlining the nature, purpose and justification for these expenses. For your information and consideration, I have attached hereto a copy of the school district's written response, including a subsequent email from CFO Rick Cost. While the Attorney General's office has previously opined about the use of taxpayer funds to pay dues to the Chamber of Commerce, it appears that the issue presented here has not been previously addressed. Accordingly, I write to ask for your guidance concerning the appropriateness of these expenses. If you need additional information or a more formal request for guidance, please let me know. Sincerely, Jennifer Hackemeyer General Counsel Georgia Department of Education
 
More details:
Did GCPS classify the chamber’s salary payments in their budget as banking fees?
Reporting department - Financial Services (300002-9990) on page 648.
Page 648, item 3000002-9990 Financial Services (3000002-9990-NA) FY2012 actual $258,771 FY2013 proposed $245,687 FY2013 Supt. Recommended: $245,687 Description: Banking fees and services for central office and local schools (includes investment advisor*)
*The investment advisor category was not for chamber salaries.
 
 Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks, School Board member Louise Radloff and GCPS Principal Karensa Wing served on a Partnership Gwinnett committee that put in writing their willingness to lobby the judge in the largest tax apportionment lawsuit in Georgia history. That judge was subsequently forced from the bench by the Judicial Qualifications Commission for an unrelated matter.
 The contract between GCPS and Partnership Gwinnett PFE (PG PFE) claims that in return for GCPS paying the salaries of employees who don’t even work for Partnership Gwinnett PFE (the employees whose salaries are being paid actually work for the Gwinnett Chamber), GCPS will receive services including:
 
**If PG PFE can ensure a school district continues to achieve award-winning results, shouldn’t ALL school districts in Georgia contract with them? ***How does an organization with no employees provide infrastructure capacity and develop public spaces? Is this organization with no employees really building bridges and parks? Why would a school district pay them to do that?
 
PG PFE will ensure that public schools continue to achieve award-winning success.**
PG PFE will provide businesses and residents with competitive infrastructure capacity; foster next-generation and trusted leadership capacity; and develop dynamic public spaces and activity centers.***

“In its first five years, Partnership Gwinnett generated over $800 million in economic development, boosting the school district’s revenue from the local tax base by more than $6 million. “
--- Gwinnett County School Board
“Each party to this Agreement shall comply with all applicable local, State, and Federal statutes, ordinances, rules, and regulations.”
—- Contract between GCPS and Partnership Gwinnett PFE.
“Since SACS CASI is not an investigative agency and this issue has been addressed by the Georgia Department of Audits at the request of the Georgia Department of Education and subsequently referred to the Georgia Attorney General’s Office for an opinion, AdvancED will rely upon that agency to make a determination. The opinion of the Attorney General will guide AdvancED as to next steps if appropriate.”
- Mike Bryans, AdvancED Georgia State Director
cc: Dr. Mark Elgart, AdvancED President/CEO, Annette Bohling, AdvancED Chief Accreditation Officer, Dr. Billy Floyd, AdvancED Southeast Regional Director
“We have no legal authority to take enforcement action regarding a school districts’ use of local education funds. Have you talked to Danny Porter?”
—- Jennifer Hackemeyer, General Counsel, Georgia Department of Education
“I have researched it thoroughly. Just because it violates the [Georgia] constitution, it doesn’t mean there’s a penalty. Even if I can’t [do anything], the Department of Education can.”
—- Danny Porter, Gwinnett District Attorney
“I have been fighting Wilbanks on everything. You know how powerful these people are, right? I can’t even get a bill through against these people. They control everything. Are the GBI or FBI involved in this?”
—- Renee Unterman, State Senator
“I can’t think of a better investment, save educating the kids.
—- Alvin Wilbanks, GCPS Superintendent
 
DO YOU? why is it a BIG SECRET?
* The public is not allowed to know what the Attorney General told DOE. If it’s LEGAL, “It’s really interesting to criticize my office for not taking action when we weren’t given the documents. We asked for the documents.”
—- Sam Olens, Georgia Attorney General - May, 4, 2015
“The use of school tax money for the chamber’s work is based on both the Constitution and practical experience. An amendment to the state Constitution, approved by voters in November 2008, authorizes local boards of education to use tax funds for redevelopment purposes and programs.** The chamber is no different than other companies who provide services, such as financial advisors, investment managers, computer programmers, custodians, groundskeepers, etc. We are confident that any objective review of the facts will lead to a conclusion that the expenditures in question are legal, justified and proper.” —- Rick Cost, CFO, GCPS
**The amendment does NOT allow the use of education funds in this manner
Source: GEORGIA WATCHDOGS NEWS June 22, 2015
 
 

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