AUDIT FINDINGS
* Annual financial report not filed
* Balance didn’t match financial statements
* Payroll summary didn’t match actual amounts paid to employees
* IRS forms 1099 and 990 not filed
* Bureau of Workers Compensation forms not provided
* No evidence that taxes, retirement contributions were withheld from manually produced checks in final five months
* School close-out procedures not filed
* Bank statements and other records missing for final three months
* $19,194 in withdrawals/expenditures were missing documentation
* Errors in bank reconciliation in final months
* Received overpayment of state funds due to enrollment errors
UNMATCHED COVERAGE
We’ve tracked Chappie James Academy from a small 2013 audit problem, to the first whiff of enrollment padding, to the school’s 2014 closure and beyond.
The final state audit of the General Chappie James Leadership Academy charter school in Jefferson Twp. includes 14 more findings of noncompliance with Ohio laws and regulations, continuing a string of problems that led to the school’s closure in 2014.
“These findings don’t surprise me at all after seeing the results of our (2015) special audit,” Auditor of State Dave Yost said. “This school was a drain on Ohio’s taxpayers, and I’m glad to see that drain was plugged when the school shut down.”
Tuesday’s final financial audit from Yost’s office says former school director Kecia Williams made nine cash withdrawals and multiple credit card expenditures totaling $19,194, without the documentation required by law. The state issued a finding for recovery against Williams in that amount, “for public monies illegally expended.”
The audit says there was no indication that the school’s Board approved those expenditures, and there was no documentation that the money went to a proper public purpose.
Tuesday’s audit comes on the heels of Yost’s more significant special audit last year, which found that Chappie James inflated its attendance numbers, wrongly receiving $1.2 million in state funds.
Williams could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Board President Stephen Offord said the school’s board has not been active since it closed, and has not heard from any law enforcement officials about wrongdoing.
Offord said the board did the best it could, but was not aware of enrollment and spending problems before the school closed. He said that closure “came as a complete shock.”
Each finding in Yost’s latest audit included a notation that the Auditor’s office got no response from school officials.
Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Cara Sweet said an investigation stemming from Yost’s 2015 audit is still ongoing. It is not yet known whether criminal charges will be filed against anyone tied to the former school.
The audit released Tuesday for the 2013-14 school year said the school’s payroll summary didn’t match the amounts that employees were actually paid. It said the school also failed to file an annual financial report with the state, failed to file IRS forms 1099 and 990 as required, and failed to document proper tax, retirement plan and workers compensation withholdings in its final three months.
Ethel Harris, director of Kids Count, which sponsored the school, said her agency shut the school down in 2014 after earlier audit and enrollment problems. She said Tuesday that Kids Count had been willing to keep the school open if Williams contracted with an outside management company to run the school. When that didn’t happen, the school was closed in September 2014.
Kids Count itself was cited for one area of noncompliance in the new audit, for not following proper “closeout procedures” when the school was shuttered in 2014. Harris said Tuesday that this audit wraps up the financial side of the school.
“There are no lawsuits pending and the school is closed. The audit is the most final thing that can happen,” Harris said. “We’re just closing up the books. … There are a few loose ends that we’re tying up, and we had to get this audit to take those steps.”
Harris said Kids Count has not heard from the Prosecutor’s office or the state Attorney General about any ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Attorney General’s office said any effort to collect the previous $1.2 million finding against Williams is on hold, because she filed for bankruptcy protection. That filing occurred in 2014 and is still open. Spokesman Dan Tierney said the AG’s office is monitoring the case.
General Chappie James Leadership Academy operated for 10 years as a high school at 120 Knox Ave. in Jefferson Twp., a mile west of where U.S. 35 meets the Trotwood Connector.
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