New revelations of DOE's irresponsible contracting and lax PEP oversight

See today's NY Post article about Yeled v’Yalda, a special education vendor proposed to be awarded a new contract from DOE.  This is despite the fact that the NYS Comptroller found the vendor had submitted fraudulent invoices to the State Education Department amounting to nearly $3 million. This audit was released just a few months ago, on December 31, 2015; and was well publicized, including several articles  including here. 

Most egregiously, any disclosure of the audit or its findings was omitted from the DOE’s Request for Authorization documents, despite DOE claims that the vendor’s background check revealed nothing. See the section of the RA on p.12 that reads: “No significant adverse information has been revealed to date” about the vendors listed, “except as noted below” – which then proceeds to list problems with numerous other vendors but not this one.

The excuse offered to the NY Post reporter? “A DOE spokesman said the omission was an error.”

Since the Custom Computer Specialist scandal, it is unclear that the DOE has shaped up its act as regards awarding contracts in a responsible fashion. In fact, the following serious issues with DOE’s procurement process have recently surfaced:

·         As reported on Sunday, Panel members who speak up against egregious contracts are bullied and shunned by the DOE. This was the experience of Robert Powell, the lone member to vote against the egregious CCS contract,.  This company was originally slated to receive $1.1B contract from DOE despite having been involved in a multi-million kickback scheme,. Powell recently resigned from the Panel as a result.

·         Though the CCS contract was later rejected by City Hall after the PEP approved it, and rebid saving of hundreds of millions of dollars, it was just revealed that the company still has several active contracts with the DOE.  In fact, CCS has received  $21.5 million  since May 2011, when the special investigator issued his report  revealing the company’s collusion with Ross Lanham, who later went to jail for stealing millions from DOE.

·         There continue to be numerous contracts in which the DOE asks the PEP for retroactive approval, after the services have been provided and the funds have already been spent.

·         The DOE has proposed to get around the contracting rules by reimbursing a private organization that had paid preK vendors, presumably because their records were too spotty to be approved for city contracts in the first place.

·         There are numerous proposed contracts submitted to the PEP without background checks and/or checks that reveal that the vendors had previously engaged in fraud or other improper behavior.

·         There are many contracts for which DOE either minimizes the problems with the vendors' previous performance (as, for example, with CCS or Pearson contracts) or in which DOE entirely omits information of past improprieties, as  in the case of Yeled v’Yalda.

·        There are numerous contracts -- either sole source or competitive - which provide no evidence that any quality control or cost-benefit analyses by DOE – for example, in the Amazon contract and the vast majority of PD and curriculum contracts.

      Despite all these problems, the DOE proposed contracts, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, are often unanimously approved at Panel meetings with little or no discussion or debate.

·         The DOE also has refused  to comply with the state law requiring financial training for Panel members, even after Isaac Carmignani, a current Panel member and mayoral appointee, asked for such training.

      Here is a link to the 2005 state law, which is quite detailed and mandates that at least six hours of training be provided all school board members on their "financial oversight, accountability and fiduciary responsibilities.”  The law also requires that an internal audit committee be formed, which must hold regular meetings to address “any indications of suspected fraud, waste or abuse,” among other responsibilities.

      NYC is exempt from the mandate as long as there is financial training and an audit committee  “that meets or exceeds these requirements.” Yet according to current and past Panel members, there is no real financial training and no audit committee exists.

Now that at least two past Panel members – including Bronx rep Robert Powell and former mayoral appointee Norm Fruchter – agree that the current system creates no real checks and balances, what is the answer?  

Certainly Panel members should all receive their legally mandated six hours of financial training, but is that enough? Please offer your views below.

If others want to take a look at the contracts up for a vote on May 18, they are here.

If you have comments or want to join our Committee, please email NYCschoolcontractwatch@gmail.com.  

thanks!  Leonie 

What People Are Saying…

About Mayoral Control

“The president of the pro-business Partnership for New York City …. acknowledged that parents are frustrated and want more of a role in the school system…..A group called the Parent Commission …. said the law should be changed so the mayor can't have ultimate power over school policies.” ----WNYC radio, March 20, 2009

“[Comptroller] Thompson also echoed critics of mayoral control in calling for more channels for parental participation, an independent body to audit data and more power for local education councils. “The current administration has sought to avoid debate and public scrutiny,” Mr. Thompson said, “while fundamental decisions regarding education reform have been made by executives with very little education background.”

As the day progressed, city officials sparred with lawmakers over test scores, class size, test preparation and no-bid contracts. Parents booed, hissed and applauded, flashing signs and passing out pamphlets… Laura Acosta, an organizer for Learn NY ... said that every parent she had spoken with agreed that parents should have more of a voice in education decisions.” –NY Times, March 21, 2009

“Hundreds of parents and community leaders turned out for the last state Assembly hearing about mayoral control over city schools. …Patricia Connelly, of a group called the Parent Commission, told lawmakers the Department of Education routinely makes decisions about opening and closing schools without community involvement. CONNELLY: The parent commission rejects the condescending autocracy that currently masquerades as parent engagement. …: Connelly's group called for a partnership with the mayor, by diluting his power over an existing panel on education policy.”- WNYC radio, March 21, 2009

“The strong thrust of Friday’s hearing, the last of five that have taken Assembly members on a tour through the boroughs, was that lawmakers are not happy with the system they created. Some have become even less happy during the hearings in every borough over the last few months… Lawmakers repeatedly raised concerns that charter schools are causing a “two-tiered system” where some students get excellent educations while others languish in failing schools.” – Gotham Schools, March 23, 2009

About recent poll results

“Chancellor Klein’s approval rating continues to fall – 7 points in the last month alone. And even though he often claims to be a civil rights hero, his disapproval ratings are highest among blacks and Hispanics.” – NYC Public School parents, March 24, 2009

“One person who is not particularly popular, though, is Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, who is Mr. Bloomberg’s point man on the issue of mayoral control of the schools. Voters approve his job performance by 37 percent to 35 percent, but that figure has slipped several percentage points over the last few months.” – NY Times City Room, March 24, 2009

“Approval for how Mayor Bloomberg is handling the public schools has also dropped, to 47 percent from 50 percent a month ago, giving him the lowest approval rating on his education efforts since May 2003. Just 46 percent of New Yorkers said they thought the mayor’s takeover of the public schools has been a success. Public school parents rated the mayor the worst: Just 41 percent of them said they approved of the job he’s doing, and 54 percent said they disapproved.” – Gotham Schools, March 24, 2009

“When voters were asked if the mayor should share power over the schools with the City Council… 53 percent support joint authority, and 37 percent don't...”-New York Post, March 25, 2009

About DOE spending practices

“A cost-cutting plan to close city day-care center classrooms will actually cost taxpayers almost $7 million, according to insiders and a Daily News analysis…. insiders say the average cost to the city for each kindergartner in public school is about $4,000. Tack on $2,800 apiece for after-school care, and the tab for 3,200 kids comes to $21.7 million. …

Evelyn Segura's 4-year-old daughter Ashley Nicole Triz will have to leave the Williamsbridge NAACP day care in the Bronx to attend Public School 21, a school that buses its kindergartners to other schools because it is overcrowded. "My daughter is very happy where she is now," said Segura, 40. "With the economy today, I don't understand why this is happening." -- Daily News, March 26, 2009

“City Councilman Bill DeBlasio released a report accusing the education department of wasteful spending, especially on testing.... DEBLASIO: We're going far beyond the federal requirements and the basics and spending a lot more on additional testing and pre-testing that we don't need in the middle of a fiscal crisis…. DeBlasio singled out an $80 million computer network for tracking data, and more than $20 million a year in benchmark testing. He also complained about the department's $1.3 million communications budget.” .- WNYC radio, March 26, 2009

About 2,000 teaching jobs could be cut if the state denies the city its fair share of federal stimulus funding, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein warned Thursday….Teachers union chief Randi Weingarten railed against the suggestion that cutting teachers and school staff is a necessary evil. "We need to cut things that ... aren't core," she said. – Daily News, March 27, 2009

On Charter schools and the lack of community input on their siting

The biggest uproar has been sparked by DOE's aggressive policy of putting new charters in existing public schools without seeking parent approval. "It's the same in every neighborhood," said Monica Major, president of the Community Education Council in District 11 in the Bronx. "The DOE just tells you they're putting a new charter in your building and you have to force them to even have a conversation about it." ….

Public school parent leaders say they don't oppose charters. They just want the DOE to abide by state law and consider the views of the local Community Education Councils, the successors to the old community school districts, before making those decisions. "They continually create this atmosphere of animosity toward parents," Major said. That's why she joined the Parent Commission on School Governance, a volunteer group that just released a proposal to sharply curb mayoral control of the schools. -- Daily News, March 24, 2009

The United Federation of Teachers and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Tuesday charging that the city’s Department of Education violated state law by moving to replace traditional public schools with charter schools without proper consultation of neighborhood school boards….The lawsuit accuses the department of “utilizing its powers over school creation to alter attendance zones unilaterally without the consent or involvement of the people the community school serves,” and adds that it “continues to act by fiat.”…

Since the mayoral takeover, the local school boards have declined in influence, with zoning among their few remaining powers. “This is our last shred of authority,” noted Jennifer Freeman, a member of the education council that represents much of Harlem, and a plaintiff in the suit. – NY Times, March 25, 2009

Ongoing corruption, graft and waste at the DOE

See today’s NY Times about the federal indictments of four DOE employees as a result of the bus scandal investigation – accused of soliciting bribes for amounting to at least $1 million, in exchange for giving preferential treatment on safety inspections to companies that provide transportation to thousands of special ed students.

These indictments result from a terrific investigative series of reports last summer by the Daily News– not anything uncovered by DOE itself or by Richard Condon, the school special investigator. See our blog for links to these stories. In fact, the News reporters complained of stonewalling by the DOE in the process of researching the safety problems and abusive behavior on the part of these companies.

In addition, the NY Post reveals a list of community groups that received money through the Mayor’s “own secret taxpayer-funded cash stash” in the reporter’s words, amounting last year to $4.5 million, which the Mayor used “to reward favored lawmakers” like Councilman Simcha Felder (who got $1.9 million for his favorite community groups), Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz ($900,000) and others.

Also on the list is Councilman Erik Dilan – who coincidentally or not, along with Felder is one of only four Council members who have refused to sign the resolution opposing budget cuts to schools. The Mayor’s office supplied $60,000 to a community group that happens to be run by Dilan’s wife.

Unlike those groups allocated discretionary funds directly from the Council, “Bloomberg's slush funds were channeled through various city agencies to 45 groups and weren't listed on the document released each year by the council …”

See also today’s oped in Daily News by Andrew Stengel of the Brennan Center– suggesting that the recent naming of a Queens campus of public schools for Senator Padavan might be considered a form of graft:

The state's Public Officers Law is clear on this: Elected officials cannot receive extra compensation or any gift of more than nominal value. Placing someone's name in a prominent place, whether it's an actual building or a tract of land, has monetary value. ….Naming a school after Padavan appears, at the very least, to violate the spirit of the law, which says that an elected official cannot "solicit, accept or receive any gift having a value of seventy-five dollars or more whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form ... in the performance of his official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part.

Worse still, according to the chancellor's regulations, "schools may not be named after living persons." The chancellor and others worked around this rule by arguing - get this - that it doesn't apply to a campus. The naming is especially egregious in this case because Republican Sen. Padavan's district is a major battleground in the war over control of the state Senate, which is one seat from a tie and two from flipping to the Democrats.

But perhaps all this pales compared to the unfortunately legal, but incredibly wasteful spending practices of the DOE, which while proposing huge budget cuts to schools also intends to spend nearly $8 million next year on its so-called Accountability office – with only 18 staff members, averaging $432,757 per person! See this entry by the invaluable blogger, Eduwonkette:

On page 446 of New York City's FY09 budget, we learn that the Division of Assessment and Accountability is budgeted at $8,287,282. $7,789,623 will buy you 18 staff - that's $432,757 per person! What else could you buy for this money, according to Eduwonkette?

A) 3,894,812 subway rides
B) 15,579 pairs of Prada heels
C) 1812 hours with the Emperors VIP Club
D) 315 years of education at the Brearley School

I would also add a lot of smaller classes in our public schools, after school tutoring, and art programs.

Next time someone goes on about the corruption and waste that pervaded the system in the days before Mayoral control, perhaps you might mention one of the examples above.