Administrators for the Valley Acadamy for Career and Technical Education have been indicted on charges related to fraud after allegedly misusing federal funds for expenses unrelated to education.
The Arizona Department of Education has been made to repay more than $425,000 because of the misuse. The money, which was supposed to be used on the academy's students instead was used for unapproved purposes, such as travel and state employee salaries Phoenix New Times reported. The total amount of misused money is not clear due to the statute of limitations on the crime, but it is believed the administrators may have misused over $1 million.
Stephen Hsieh reported that at least $8,462 was misused directly by Dennis Fiscus who, at the time, disbursed the federal career and technical education grant money as the director of operations at the Arizona Department of Education.
"During that period, $8,462 of federal tech prep funds paid for travel expenses for Fiscus rather than being spent on its intended purpose — helping high school students take community college courses for credit," Hsieh reported for Phoenix New Times.
Additionally, Fiscus was found to have favored Valley Academy and awarded the school federal grant funds without acting through the proper procedure and without noting any specific reason or competitive advantage the school had over others.
"VACTE received far more tech prep funds than any other technical education school district, including districts with much larger student populations," Hsieh said in his article.
The funds have been repaid by the Arizona Department of Education, and steps have been taken to ensure such activities are not repeated.
"The department has since taken several actions to ensure compliance with state and federal conflict-of-interest laws, including establishing an ethics committee, requiring managers to sign disclosure forms, and moving its grants unit from the department's program side to its business and finance office," Hsieh wrote.
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