The state Department of Education has rejected Richland District 1’s financial recovery plan and ordered another audit of the Columbia school system.
Richland 1 was required to submit a recovery plan after the department placed the district on “fiscal caution” following a critical report from the state Inspector General. That report raised concerns about the district’s efforts to build an early learning center in Lower Richland and about the district’s procurement practices.
Richland 1, which had already been on “fiscal watch,” submitted the recovery plan in October. Fiscal caution is the second most serious designation from the Education Department.
In a letter to the district dated Oct. 31, the education department called the plan “deficient” and “incomplete.”
“Some of the District’s seemingly cursory responses have amplified the Department’s concern regarding the District’s apparent failure to grasp the gravity and full implications of the SIG’s findings,” wrote Kendra Hunt, the department’s chief financial officer.
Hunt said that the most “prudent” path forward would be to conduct an independent audit.
The State has reached out to the the district for a response.
The plan had shared intentions to better train staff, but denied the claim that it has mismanaged $31 million since beginning to build the still-defunct Vince Ford Early Learning Center.
The district’s plan said that while officials believe they complied with the district’s own guidelines, they intended to implement training and professional development courses on procurement code, follow state requirements and update how procurement records are digitized and secured.
In response to the finding that the district had mismanaged $31 million for the Vince Ford Early Learning Center, the district said there was not “criminal activity or indication of fraudulent activity” and did not provide plans on how to rectify it.
Richland 1 had already spent more than a year on “fiscal watch,” a state-designated status.
The state Department of Education first raised concerns about the district’s financial practices in 2022. That year, an audit discovered “significant deficiencies and material weaknesses” that could affect the financial well-being of the district and improper use of procurement cards — or “p-cards.” Richland 1 attempted to appeal the department’s decision, but it was denied.
“The finding of significant and unremedied procurement deficiencies require me to escalate your District to a declaration of Fiscal Caution,” Weaver wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to the district.
Criticism from the education department stemmed from the scathing report from the state Inspector General in July. It determined that while Richland 1 had not committed any criminal activity in its conception and construction of the early learning center, the district had broken state and local building and zoning codes and cost taxpayers more than $350,000 when it began construction on the early learning center without the proper permits. The report also found fault with the district’s policies regarding procurement and solicitation of services.
Weaver asked the Inspector General to investigate Richland 1 after the district failed to obtain permission from Richland County and the state Education Department before beginning construction on the Ford center on Caughman Road.
After construction started, the Education Department said that because the center would serve children as young as infants, it could not be considered a school, which meant the Education Department couldn’t approve it. Richland One continued construction anyway, and the county issued a stop work order in January.