The NC Auditor’s office allege (pdf) that Joe Davis, former superintendent of the Washington County Schools in North Carolina and current superintendent of the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Missouri*, used over $9,000 in federal Title I funds to rent bounce houses, spent $600 to rent a video game trailer, and shelled out $2,785 for food. Title I funds are to be used to provide educational services to low-income students.
According to the auditors, this was not a simple mistake or a lapse in judgement.
Title I and Title II funds were misspent due to management override. The former Superintendent hired personnel that he tasked with learning the guidelines of Title I and Title II expenditures. Title I and Title II personnel advised the former Superintendent to not spend program funds on entertainment. However, the former Superintendent disregarded their advice on spending for certain events. (p. 5)
In addition, Superintendent Davis used taxpayer money to go on shopping trips to the tune of $18,800. It is possible that he used some of the goods and services for legitimate purposes. There are no receipts for these purchases, however, so I suppose we’ll never know.
All told, Superintendent Joe Davis spent $94,000 on travel, meals, and merchandise over a 33-month period.
* Yes, THAT Ferguson, Missouri.
Update: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted a short AP article about the audit. According to the article, “Davis declined comment until he read the audit.”
