SES IS A MESS: State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs | Education Blog

State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs | Education Blog:

State investigators: 3 Dallas-area tutoring companies fraudulently billed Garland and San Antonio ISDs

by Holly K. Hacker

Three local tutoring companies submitted fraudulent bills to the Garland and San Antonio school districts, according to state investigations.

Diverse Learning, Avenue Academy and Boost Academy sent invoices to both districts so they could get paid for tutoring low-income students, as allowed under the federal No Child Left Behind law. But the tutoring never took place, investigations by the Texas Education Agency found. A lawyer for Diverse Learning said the company is contesting TEA’s decision. Messages left Academy and Boost have not been returned.

TEA had already removed Avenue Academy and Boost Academy (which have the same Hurst address) from the state’s approved list of tutoring companies for other violations. A related company called Diverse Learning (also known as Diverse Links) was removed April 4. In addition, a Coppell firm called 1 to 1 Computer Tutoring was removed April 2.

But those tutoring firms are free to reapply to get back on the state list this fall. And some school district leaders say that’s not cool.

“What we want is the ability to permanently remove companies from the list that have a history of fraud,” said Leslie Price, a spokeswoman for San Antonio ISD. She said SAISD spends a lot of time and money documenting problems with tutoring companies, only to have them potentially remain in