Schools prone to financial errors

Bookkeepers should be trained better and screened more carefully, audit committee tells Board of Education

by Audrey Dutton | Staff Writer

Activity funds in Montgomery County Public Schools may be prone to bookkeeping errors because school money handlers are not trained or screened well enough, officials told Board of Education members Monday.

The board’s audit committee met Monday to scrutinize MCPS independent activity funds and the school district’s financial training and audit process.

The meeting was triggered by revelations in a March memorandum about ‘‘seriously deficient” bookkeeping at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac. The audit’s findings, showing a ‘‘large negative cash position,” were described to Joan Benz, Churchill principal, in the memorandum.

Benz did not respond to a comment request for this story...