Grand Jury: San Diego schools improperly siphoning student funds
Student money earmarked for band, cheerleading and other extracurricular activities are being improperly raided by San Diego Unified school administrators to pay for faculty supplies, equipment and events, according to a grand jury investigative report released Wednesday.
Photo by Karl-Erik BennionFrom March 2008 to October 2009, at least $107,882 in student extra-curricular funds were used by various schools to benefit the faculty.
The practice is so widespread, the Grand Jury reports, that 75 percent of district schools routinely take from the student funds.
This occurs while students at nearly all district schools are required to pay fees to participate in extracurricular activities, in apparent violation of district policy and a 1984 state Supreme Court ruling banning the practice.
In one instance during the 2006-2007 school year, San Diego's School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) snatched its students' entire extracurricular savings – $65,568 – and deposited it into the schools' main account.
A 2009 School District audit of SCPA discovered additional withdrawals from the students' account were used to pay for the staff's Christmas party, drinking mugs, polo shirts and other unauthorized expenditures. School officials denied that the money was ever student funds, but repaid $19,000 at the urging of district auditors. The rest remains unpaid.
At the same time, music students at the school were required to pay for their own instruments and performance clothing, the probe found. According to the report:
