Panel urges effort to reclaim misspent Abbott aid Friday, May 16, 2008 • BY RICK HEPP • Star-Ledger Staff Lawmakers yesterday criticized state education officials for not trying to recoup $83 million in spending by heavily state-subsidized districts -- from travel and legal expenses to food and holiday parties -- that auditors found questionable. "When you're talking about taxpayer dollars, why wouldn't you go back after them for that money?" Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset) asked Education Commissioner Lucille Davy during a hearing about the audits. "You have all the power." Davy replied that her department either investigated inappropriate spending or referred potentially criminal actions to the Attorney General's Office. But, she said, "In some cases, the rules of the game were not as clear as they could have been." Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) complained that it took auditors too long to complete their financial review of nearly $290 million in purchase orders made during 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years by the 31 so-called Abbott districts, which receive large state subsidies to comply with state Supreme Court orders. The purchase orders represent only a small portion of the more than $4 billion in state aid the districts get each year. Audits for four school districts were issued last year, but those for the remaining 27 districts were not released until two weeks ago. In the latest batch, auditors concluded that more than 25 cents of every dollar they reviewed in district spending was unnecessary, excessive or lacking in adequate documentation. "It's unfortunate that something wasn't done sooner," Turner said. "It's like disciplining your children. It should be swift because we're spending billions of dollars on education." Davy said that while most of the audits were only recently released, drafts of the findings had been completed last fall and the state Department of Education has been working with the districts since then to resolve the problems. "There were several categories of expenditures found to be excessive and unnecessary," Davy added. "But it is important to point out that these kind of expenditures are likely to be found in districts around the state." That is why the state developed a new set of rules that expands its power over how all schools spend their money and allows it to withhold funds for questionable expenses, Davy said. However, an advocacy group known as Our Children/Our Schools criticized the audits as well as how the media, including The Star-Ledger, have characterized them. "Many of the items questioned by the audits appear to be legitimate expenses," the group said in a statement. "The misrepresentation of district spending practices reinforces the impression that the audits are being used for political purposes to support elimination of the Abbott remedies." © 2008 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.