Charter Schools aren’t the only place adults make off with money meant for kids

Former Shelby County Public Schools payroll manager gets 18 years for swiping $600,000

One of the complaints we hear from opponents of charter schools regards corrupt finances. There has been fiscal misbehavior in a few charter schools. However, the traditional public school system in Kentucky is far from trouble free in this area. Unfortunately, Kentucky’s traditional public school system provides evidence that people are people and charter schools have no copyright on those who will steal dollars meant to support students’ education.

A new case in point from Shelby County shows that the charter school critics’ smug assumptions about supposedly tougher fiscal protections in the traditional public schools are dubious at best.

The Sentinel-News from the Shelby County area reports (subscription) that the former payroll manager of the Shelby County School District just received an 18-year prison sentence for embezzling nearly $600,000 meant for kids.

Even more telling, the thefts in Shelby County began in 2007 and went on for seven years before anyone noticed. The school system is supposed to be audited every year, but those audits obviously didn’t catch this traditional public school crook, at least not very quickly.

And, the example from Shelby County isn’t just a fluke, unfortunately.

Several years ago, William "Gary" Rye, a former superintendent from the Dayton Independent Public School District, got to do federal time for swiping hundreds of thousands from students, too.

Rye’s crimes also went on for years, at least from 2004 to 2012 and possibly for as long as 15 years, before he was finally tripped up by a special audit by the Kentucky Auditor or Public Accounts. The auditor only conducted this special audit after receiving a tip. The annual audits never uncovered these crimes. Rye’s total “take” according to the auditor was on the order of $500,000.There is even more evidence that smug charter school critics need to mind their own traditional public school store better.

A former superintendent in the Mason County Public School District also was convicted for grabbing money meant for students. Tim Moore pleaded guilty to theft by deception for illegal activities spanning from 2007 to 2012. Once again, annual audits disclosed nothing. Moore was also tripped up by a special audit from the State Auditor after the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability raised questions in regard to a complaint that office had received. The total amount of restitution Moore will provide is about $25,000.Perhaps the all-time worst example of public school money being embezzled came to a head in 2000 when former Kentucky Department of Education associate commissioner Randy Kimbrough got two years of federal time for taking a many multi - $100,000 sum during her tenure in Frankfort https://www.bgdailynews.com/former-educator-says-she-is-guilty-of-embezzlement/article_1f1a121c-c4bc-5180-8731-669d07cbbe33.html. Kimbrough’s husband, a former Kentucky principal, also was involved in the scheme and was also convicted in this major public education scandal.

There are more examples of fiscal misbehavior in Kentucky’s traditional public school system, but I think my point is made that the traditional system’s supposed safeguards are not so solid, either. Those trying to make a case that charter schools are somehow different and more subject to fiscal misdeeds don’t seem to know what is going on in the traditional system.

To be sure, when Kentucky brings up charter school legislation in the next legislative session, we need to insure good fiscal safeguards are in place. However, as legislators consider how to do this for charter schools, they also need to pay attention to the obvious holes in fiscal safeguards for Kentucky’s traditional public school systems, too.

In any event, the argument that charters somehow are more subject to fiscal issues just doesn’t hold up.