The need is great and public schools are struggling, while abuse is unchecked.
Scandal after scandal surrounds Beacon Hill while they glad hand lobbyists and concoct legislation behind closed doors.
Maybe it's time for legislators to do their jobs, what they were elected for.
Time to correct this. Maybe even before focusing on Slot Barns.
Is it truly any wonder that voters are cynical?
OPINION: Funny finances at READS Collaborative
Is it really a lot to ask of our educators to not appear driven by greed? Is it a lot to ask them to follow the law and not use evasive maneuvers to line their pockets with outrageous amounts of money that few others can ever hope to earn?
The answers are obviously “no” – and that was made very clear in an audit released Wednesday.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump said the financial operations of the READS Collaborative, which works with special needs students in dozens of area school district, were a mess, at least until 2010 when READS began taking steps to clean up its act.
The finger of blame is pointed at former READS executive director Martin T. Hanley Jr., who retired as Carver school superintendent in 2003 and later became the heads of READS. Hanley isn’t named in Bump’s reports, but he is the person referred to when Bump says he violated state pension law by collecting nearly twice as much in salary as he was allowed.
The most troubling aspect of the case is that Hanley knew he was violating the law because he was informed by the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System in 2008 that his READS salary exceeded state limits. But instead of taking a lower salary, Hanley arranged to be paid by another READS entity that has since been disbanded.
Hanley would not tell the auditor what financial arrangements he made, but Bump is clear in saying that the executive director of READS – that’s Hanley – was paid inappropriately by the nonprofit group.
Hanley was already collecting $90,000 per year from his school pension when he took over READS, which serves 1,000 special needs students in Abington, Bridgewater-Raynham, East Bridgewater, Lakeville, Middleboro, Taunton and West Bridgewater, among others.
He was paid $103,572 as the heads of READS in 2009 and $106,679 in 2010. He left the post in June. Bump said these salaries exceeded state law by $118,000 over the two years.
It also is troubling that, according to Bump’s office, money went back and forth between the two READS groups without much concern for propriety. There also were more than $2 million in questionable costs and loans. Even more problematic was that READS apparently overcharged school districts for services and did not follow “an effective policy” for reimbursing collaborative members.
The audit said READS also should have invited non-member school districts – such as Brockton, Easton and Whitman-Hanson – who used its services to join READS, which would have saved them more than $1 million over a two-year period.
READS knew this audit was coming and has done a few things to get its house in order. But Hanley should be forced to pay back the $118,000 he improperly collected in excess compensation. If he refuses, the matter should be referred to the attorney general’s office.
What this case shows is that there is still a lot of money available for special education, but that it has to be carefully monitored.
Most troubling about this case is that the head of that organization – Hanley – didn’t do enough to make it more efficient and useful to school districts and students in the area. Instead, he seemed more worried about finding a way to collect as much money as possible through his salary and pension – nearly $200,000 per year total. That’s offensive and outrageous.
Former special education group director earned more in salary than pension law allowed, audit says
Retired Carver superintendent earned $118,000 more than allowed
By Vicki-Ann Downing
Enterprise Staff Writer
MIDDLEBORO —
Martin T. Hanley Jr., retired Carver school superintendent, earned at least $118,000 more in salary than he was permitted under state pension law when he was executive director of a Brockton area special needs collaborative.
This finding was among the conclusions drawn by State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump in a review of the financial operations at the READS Collaborative, where Hanley worked, and two other educational collaboratives: Southeastern Massachusetts Educational Collaborative, based in New Bedford and Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, based in Billerica.
Together, she said, the three organizations generate more than $31 million in annual revenue and serve 32 single and regional member school districts and their nearly 1,000 special needs students.
Bump said she found evidence of mismanagement and improper spending at all three collaboratives. The results of the audits were released Wednesday.
The READS Collaborative was established in 1989 to serve special needs students in Abington, Bridgewater-Raynham, East Bridgewater, Lakeville, Middleboro, Taunton and West Bridgewater, among others.
As the retired school superintendent in Carver, Hanley was limited in the amount he could earn in retirement.
When the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System notified Hanley in 2008 that his compensation from the READS Collaborative exceeded those limits, Hanley arranged to be paid by another entity, READS Inc., a nonprofit corporation, the audit found.
Hanley would not tell auditors what arrangements he had made with the retirement system, the audit report said. He retired from READS in June.
“Since the corporation is a separate nonprofit entity, the executive director appears to have believed that this compensation arrangement would not represent a violation” of state law, according to the audit report.
“However, even though he charged all of his compensation expenses to the corporation, these charges were inappropriate, since he also simultaneously administered READS,” the audit said.
While being paid by READS, Hanley was also getting $90,000 a year – $7,518 a month – in his pension from the Carver School Department, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Teachers Retirement System said Wednesday. He retired from that job on July 1, 2003.
Until June 30, the Middleboro-based organization maintained two separate entities: The READS Collaborative, which provided regional programs for special needs students, and the nonprofit corporation, which provided early-intervention and other services eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.
The organization did not do a good job of separating the entities, the audit found.
Christopher Thompson, a spokesman for Bump, said funds were transferred between the two organizations, a concern because the nonprofit does not have as much government oversight as the collaborative.
The READS audit also found as much as $1.28 million in “questionable allocations of administrative costs” and a “questionable loan” of $944,000 from READS to the corporation. READS charged non-member school districts “hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional fees” to pay back the loan, the report said.
READS also accumulated a surplus of $3.4 million because it charged non-member districts more for services than it cost to provide the services and more than it agreed to charge them in its collaborative agreement, the audit found.
READS did not follow “an effective policy” for reimbursing districts for the excess, the report said.
Also, non-member school districts receiving services through READS should have been invited to join the collaborative, which would have saved them $1.05 million over the period of the audit, 2008 to 2010, the report said.
Among the school districts that could have saved money were Brockton, Whitman-Hanson, Randolph, Halifax, Holbrook, Easton and Rockland, according to the audit.
Hanley could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Theresa A. Craig, who succeeded Hanley as executive director on July 1, said READS has already made changes as a result of the audit’s findings.
The corporation was dissolved on June 30, so READS now operates as one entity, she said. One district, Acushnet, has begun formal proceedings to join the collaborative.
“We’re going to use the report to move forward in a positive way and continue to serve students,” said Craig. “The audit will inform how we move forward, without a doubt.”
Bump on Wednesday called on the state Legislature and the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to take steps to make sure changes are made to prevent abuses in the collaborative system.
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