The office of the Auditor General in Philadelphia on Wednesday released a report following years of investigations into the governance of 5 charter schools. According to details of the report, the Philadelphia-based operator, Aspira Inc., was allowed to run and manage school funds inconsistently.
The Philly.com report also detailed a weak organizational structure within school management as well as the lack of oversight in the running of schools as part of the reason behind the poor administration and oversight systems within the targeted schools. In addition to having a poor management form, the schools were also found to lack the required oversight that is necessary towards facilitating organizational integrity within the school management.
Aspira Inc. was also found culpable of having misappropriated $150 million whose expenditure was not overseen by the necessary oversight bodies. The corporation, which managed up to 5 schools in Philadelphia up until last December when charters of both the Olney High School and John B. Stetson Middle School were withdrawn following management and financial-related problems.
Although Aspira is in the process of appealing the decision, the new report might influence whether the company would be accorded the management rights to two of the mismanaged schools or not.
The auditing process started in 2017 following media reports that the Aspira Company was involved in a misconduct issue whereby top management officials were offered $350,000 worth of settlements irregularly.
The Wednesday report also revealed potentially corrupt deals with other third party individuals where were paid $210,000 contrary to the authorization protocols that should have been followed. In a move that is being deemed as a potential cover-up, the Aspira management was soon after changed and records either destroyed or were deliberately not kept for some time.
The report, additionally, revealed that funds meant for schools were being irregularly used to settle Aspira former and current management officers. This is a potential scam that could have been used to defraud funds from the school, therefore depriving the school of the much-needed funds meant for resource acquisition.
According to documents seen by the auditors, the said school charters raised the issue with Aspira’s management, prompting them to term the issues as ‘unsupported speculations.’
Aspira’s management on Wednesday almost immediately, rubbishing its findings for its inconclusiveness and inability to report issues of importance and substance such as waste of funds and fraud.
At the same time, Philadelphia School District said in a statement that it would take the finding and details of the report seriously and act where necessary to maintain the quality and integrity of education within the region.
