The Kansas City (Mo.) school district must repay the Missouri state education department $192,730—money it collected after turning in fake student attendance data.
The Kansas City Star reports that the repayment became necessary after the district determined that seven central office employees had sent falsified attendance data to the state for three years, from 2013 to 2016.
The data asserted that some students were present in school when they were not. The false figures were part of an effort to boost Kansas City's score on the state’s Annual Performance Review. The state wants 90 percent of students to be in school 90 percent of the time.
As a result, the district received more state funding than it was actually due. Missouri schools receive state funds based on students’ daily attendance.
A former district employee tipped off the state about the faked data. The district called for an independent investigation and in November released the results.
Kansas City received about $111,705 more than it should have, and charter schools in the district received about $81,025 less than they should have.
Considering the district’s annual operating budget is more than $257 million, the amount owed is “not catastrophic,” says Ray Weikal, a district spokesman. “It’s not good, and it is not OK, but in how it will impact out ability to operate and educate our students, it is not catastrophic.”
The data was altered under Steve Green’s tenure as superintendent, before current Superintendent Mark Bedell was hired.
Green has denied knowing that employees were tinkering with student attendance records under his watch. Green left the Kansas City district in 2015 to become superintendent of the DeKalb County (Ga.) district. He was ousted from that job last month.
