Thursday, March 28, 2013

Justin Wilson cooks up some Cedric Gray gumbo in Fayette County Schools Audit

The Tennessee Comptroller had a few things to say about Fayette County under the leadership of then-Superintendent Cedric Gray in a report issued yesterday. Comptroller Justin P. Wilson took a break from cooking a mean gumbo to state:

"The Fayette County school system overspent its budget, distributed unauthorized salary supplements and failed to put contracts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars out for bid...

auditors found that expenses in the system’s general purpose school fund exceeded the amount budgeted for the fiscal year by more than $1.2 million. The school system made several amendments to its budget during the year that weren’t approved by the Fayette County Board of Education or the Fayette County Commission.

A substantial portion of the overspending for those two funds – totaling more than $864,000 - was attributable to salaries exceeding the budget. The salary increases were often taken from line items that were unrelated to payroll expenses. For example, money budgeted for “in-service/staff development” was used to provide a supplement to one school principal.

As a result of the overspending, auditors noted that the general purpose school fund balance decreased from $1,400,151 to $295,888 during the fiscal year.

The school system overcompensated employees on premiums for health insurance, which resulted in additional costs of more than $200,000.

Auditors noted that the school system failed to solicit bids for numerous leased or purchased
items valued above $10,000, as required by state law. In one case, the school system entered into a lease and supplemental agreements for copying machines that was worth more than $700,000 without competitive bids.

The school system’s management failed to provide adequate oversight and record-keeping for more than $3.7 million in federal grant funds spent during the fiscal year.

“Clearly, the mistakes identified in this audit are unacceptable,” Comptroller Justin P. Wilson said. “Fayette County should take steps necessary to make sure these kinds of issues don’t crop up again in future audits
."

Start reading "management's" responses on page 168 below through the end of the report. There is a common theme running through all the answers and after awhile, they are quite um, interesting.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought he might be slick. At the Sheriff's barbeque last summer and after only a couple of board meetings he was already talking about 'people having my back'.

Anonymous said...

And he brought all his financial people with him or soon after he got here.

"Let's make sure this doesn't happen again in the future" is a damned, piss-poor attitude to take when crap like this goes on. Of course "Bowtie Louie's" response (if he gives one) will be, "Hey, I didn't do anything that was actually illegal".

When his current contract runs out he can qualify to run for county supervisor.

Anonymous said...

Many local and state government chieftains had the ARRA or Stimulus money to prop them up in the last three years. The money may have helped the economy, but the political polish, structural unemployment, skills gap, weak demand, returning vets, loyal public employees, and fumes is about all we are operating on now.

Anonymous said...

When his current contract runs out he can qualify to run for county supervisor.

Did he stiff the bus company, too?

Anonymous said...

no operating manual my ass

Kingfish said...

You read that, eh. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, KF. This is the kind of stuff --important stuff that requires actual investigation and basic math skills, I mean-- that never gets reported by anyone else around Jackson.

Kingfish said...

CL broke it. It would have been nice if they posted the actual audit. I had to go google it to find it.

As for Iwritepoetry on the CL website whining all school districts do it: start naming some and linking the audits and page numbers.

Anonymous said...

It is time for the JPS School Board to go to Mr. Jim Barksdale, with their collective hats in their hands, and beg him to re-offer to find us the very best Superintendent in the Nation and supplement his pay. Until we do not care about the Superintendent's race and only care about results for our children, nothing will change.

Anonymous said...

To my complete embarrassment, had to marinate on the Justin Wilson reference before I got it.

Well done, KF.

Anonymous said...

As KF said, most of this information was in the CL online before all of you were out of bed this morning. Having to Google it must have been tough. There's a limit to what length needs to be gone to in a paper's article. They told us enough to know the guy is a crook.

Anonymous said...

"Had to Google it" allowed you to print it here without crediting the original source, the CL.

Anonymous said...

"Had to Google it" allowed you to print it here without crediting the original source, the CL.

Nobody forces you to read anything here. You don't have to like it and as long as you surf over to JJ you definitely get to lump it.

Kingfish said...

Funny, I don't see you griping when media in town sees my stories and a few days or a week later reports the same thing after they get the original docs even though I broke it.

Lumbergh said...

Wow. I didn't realize JPS had hired anyone from Fayette county schools. Terrible hire. I live in Memphis. Fayette county schools are notoriously awful. Most of the urban flight from Memphis has stopped at the Fayette county line for that reason. Those that do move to Fayette county have to send their kids to private schools in Memphis.

Anonymous said...

Who cares who breaks a story? Just throw it up and credit the source if need be. It ain't about who publishes first.


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In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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