MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- A Cleveland program that uses public money to pay private school tuition may have misspent $1.9 million during the past two years, according to a state audit to be released today.
Of the expenditures questioned by auditors, more than $1.4 million pertained to taxis used to transport children in the experimental school voucher program. In some cases, the audit found, cab companies billed the program even if a student was absent from school.
The audit, a copy of which was obtained Monday by the Enquirer, also criticized a lack of proper documentation for more than $379,000 in consulting services.
Moreover, auditors reported that administrators failed to properly verify the income or residency of some families with children in the program. The amount of private school tuition paid by the state is based on the income of a participating child's parents or guardians.
While the pilot program is limited to Cleveland, education experts are closely monitoring its progress. Some who want to see vouchers expanded nationwide argue the program provides a way out of troubled public schools for low-income children.
Questions about the program's spending come days after the release of a state-sponsored study that found no significant difference in third-grade academic achievement between students receiving a voucher for private schools and those in public schools.
Ironically, the consulting expenditures questioned by auditors included money to pay for the study. State education officials have since provided documentation showing how the contracts were awarded andhow the money was spent.
Bert Holt, the program's administrator, said she and officials at the Ohio Department of Education moved quickly to correct problems identified by the auditors.
"We understand we are under a microscope," Ms. Holt said. "That's why they call it a pilot program. We are learning and improving as we move forward."
She attributed the bulk of the transportation overruns to a shortage of buses in the Cleveland Public Schools system. Ohio law requires the state to provide transportationto all primary school students, including those in private and religious schools. The Enquirer first reported in January that 1,115 of the 3,000 voucher recipients were traveling to and from school by taxi. As a result, the program's per-pupil transportation costs were more than three times as great as the Cincinnati Public Schools.
Gov. George Voinovich, the program's biggest cheerleader, recently pushed for an extra $2.9 million in state funds to keep the program operating.
In the past two months, program officials slashed the number of children taking cabs to 330 by adding more buses, said Robert Moore, an assistant state superintendent of public instruction.
