SPEDGate: How the Louisiana Department of Education is Misappropriating Millions of Dollars a Year from their Federal Special Education Funding for Cronies and Political Favors
What follows is an investigative story about the Special Education program run by the Louisiana Department of Education which reveals how numerous players have profited by funneling Federal IDEA funds to their own pet projects and personnel.
This illegal misappropriation of public money has left many special education students, parents, and district staff without the support those federal funds were mandated to provide.
My story has many twists, turns, and villains, but I will try to lay out the details as clearly as I can. This story exposes what appears to be criminal behavior and corruption at our highest levels of government. There is undoubtedly more to the story than I know or will be able to relay here, but I will present what I have and let the public, legislators and law enforcement agencies decide if this matter is worth investigating further using tools beyond my power.
A few months ago I received a letter from a concerned Special Education activist in Louisiana. This source to whom I have given anonymity provided some internal documents prepared by the Louisiana Department of Education which were distributed to certain Louisiana legislators. Much of the information provided had been previously relayed to me over several years, but I have been unable to prove those assertions, until now.
The first element that was revealed to me is that LDOE has destroyed the Special Education Department. Most of the staff who previously dealt with Special Education issues were reassigned or fired, but LDOE kept the money the federal government was providing specifically to support special education staff. To justify this, LDOE allocated these funds I to 129 different staff members across the department, many of whom had absolutely nothing to do with Special Education. I have provided a list of these allocations as attachments labeled “salary” and “salary 2”. I’m told this documentation was provided to Representative John Schroeder when the department was trying to make a case that SPEDGate: How the Louisiana Department of Education is Misappropriating Millions of Dollars a Year from their Federal Special Education Funding for Cronies and Political Favors | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:
FLIP THE
LOUISIANA BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
( BESE)
LOUISIANA BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
( BESE)
Big Education Ape: FLIP THE LOUISIANA BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ( BESE) http://bit.ly/1JKBCtL #flipbese
