In today's Newsworks column I refer to Lakewood Public Schools as an example of the "tyranny of the majority." Today the Asbury Park Press reports that, in addition to a budget hole of $5 million, Lakewood may also have to reimburse the state and federal governments for another $6 million for falsifying grant proposals. Among the charges itemized in the DOE's Office of Fiscal Accountability are:
• The district could not provide a list of recipients or an
explanation why 760 iPad laptops were purchased with more than $468,000
in federal Title I funds;
• Questions about how the district spent
Title I funds in at least eight other instances, including failing to
provide records about the payment of $1 million to the Tree of
Knowledge, which provides instructional services to private school
students; and
• The district appears to have inflated its enrollment figures, leading to an overpayment of $2.3 million in state funds.