Audit: $12.3 million went unused [including in @mcps @mocoboe] due to lack of training by state Dept. of Education

 

A state audit shows at least eight Maryland school systems didn’t use $12.3 million designated for students in underserved communities.

According to the document from the Office of the Inspector General for Education, officials with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) didn’t provide training and guidance for local school officials to utilize what are known as concentration of poverty grants.

Those grants are to aid students inside buildings designated as community schools, which receive services such as before- or after-school tutoring, access to mental health professionals and educational field trips. Community schools, which are gradually being established around the state, are part of the Blueprint of Maryland’s Future education reform plan...

...The audit, which reviewed records from July 1, 2019, through Jan. 31, 2023, noted about $1 million was returned to the state. The “selected” school systems, also referred to as local education agencies, or LEAs, that were investigated were Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Dorchester, Montgomery, Somerset, Washington and Wicomico counties...

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2024/02/13/audit-12-3-million-went-unused-due-to-lack-of-training-by-state-dept-of-education/