Begin the repairs on Detroit Public Schools
Board correctly promises prompt, open probe of alleged fraud
August 1, 2007
The Detroit Public Schools Board of Education got out in front of a potential $46-million problem and needs to stay there with a commitment to transparency and public accountability.
Fraud of any kind must be exposed and rooted out. At a time when public confidence in DPS needs a boost, the board's approach has been encouraging, although the situation is not.
The district was smart to hire an outside law firm, based in Grand Rapids, to begin an investigation at the first whiff of trouble. Historically, the corruption within DPS has been so thick it's impossible to trust anyone within the system, which makes independent eyes especially valuable.
Also encouraging, it was a board member, Paula Johnson, head of the contracts and procurement committee, who first raised concerns about the pattern of wire transfers of funds. She asked the kinds of questions that voters should expect from their elected stewards but have not traditionally been aired by school board members. More important, Johnson's board colleagues did not engage in their usual infighting and factionalism to stall the probe. It went promptly forward.
A natural next step would be for the board to make public the details of a 113-page report outlining who is believed to be at fault, including one DPS employee suspected of extorting up to $100,000. Board members have vowed to take some action in the coming weeks, and the public should hold them to that pledge.
Every dollar at issue belongs to the public. Taxpayers deserve to know just what was wasted, skimmed, pocketed or otherwise directed to some purpose other than the education of children. And -- while this is not a problem that developed on her watch -- new Superintendent Connie Calloway needs to say what procedures will be put in place to keep such things from happening again.
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Calloway sends right message on accountability
August 1, 2007
At this early stage, new Superintendent Connie Calloway is understandably guarded about her specific plans for changing the Detroit Public Schools. But she is refreshingly clear about her support for openness and accountability in the use of tax dollars. Fiscal transparency is as vital as clean, safe schools in restoring public trust in DPS.
"I believe in the Freedom of Information Act," Calloway said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press editorial board last week. "I believe that public dollars mean that there is public accountably."
That attitude needs to filter down through the entire system, where administrators and bureaucrats have a long history of stalling compliance with requests for information.
The Michigan Freedom of Information Act does provide exemptions, but they are supposed to be rare and justified, not exercised in a manner that suggests a public entity has little use for accountability. Calloway will not undo the district's bad habits overnight, but she has declared a clear standard.
Applauding a leader for pledging to share information may sound self-serving coming from a news provider that routinely must engage in legal battles for public information. But the real problem is public agencies that are reflexively secretive. Government must begin with the premise that it is, with rare exceptions, an open process.
"Only to the extent that I need to protect the district with legal financial matters, the public has a right to know," Calloway said. Other government leaders could take a lesson.
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
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