Obscurity masquerades as transparency in unauthorized $25,000.20 expenditure

When it became time to renew the software license for the MCPS instructional management system, MCPS officials went to the Board of Education (under the watch of former BOE president Nancy Navarro) and received approval to spend $350,000.

The BOE minutes of October 14, 2008 show approval for $350,000 in funding under award number 1152.1, Edmin.com, Inc.

A memo dated January 13, 2009, from Superintendent Weast to the BOE, confirms the expenditure of $350,000.

But the purchase order (shown below) shows that the amount spent was $375,000.20. That’s $25,000.20 more than the amount that was appropriated.

Edmin Purchase Order

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Meanwhile, BOE President Shirley Brandman and other officials claim that all expenditures over $25,000 are available for public viewing in the BOE minutes.

Maybe $25,000.20 isn’t that much money to Ms. Brandman, but if MCPS tacks on an unappropriated $25,000 here and an unappropriated $25,000 there, it starts to add up to real money.