Middleborough-based READS Collaborative

In the wake of Billerica-based Merrimack Special Education Collaborative scandal that uncovered misuse and abuse of public funds, Middleborough-based READS Collaborative was audited with the comments and report below. The report is worth reading. This betrays not only the public trust, but those public funds were intended to serve.



Auditor seeking expanded powers
Wants authority to track spending of any public funds

Bump said that a significant, but undetermined, portion of that money is awarded to subcontractors who have no obligation to cooperate with her efforts to monitor their use of state funds.

“We should have the legal authority to look at how that money is spent,’’ she said.

Bump said the roadblocks to her investigations of education collaboratives were put up during audits of the Middleborough-based READS Collaborative, and the Billerica-based Merrimack Special Education Collaborative.

At the READS Collaborative, Bump found that the former executive director avoided limits on his state teacher’s pension by listing 100 percent of his salary at a related nonprofit organization, even though he also served as the executive director of the collaborative.


Auditor Bump's report on the
Southeastern Massachusetts Education Collaborative