Accusations of 20 million dollar spending discrepancy to be discussed tonight.
A special Meeting of the Fayette County Board of Education is scheduled for Wednesday evening. It comes after the may 19th meeting left the public with some concerns about the state of the board’s financial affairs. On Tuesday, Julane Mullins, director of budget and staffing for the board, sent out an email revealing a possible 20 million dollar discrepancy in spending. Mullins’ attorney, Brenda Allen anticipates a passionate discussion this evening.
“They are under a deadline to get a budget passed, the deadline is looming very closely so I anticipate that the meeting will be serious and that they’ll move things forward”
The allegations come at a time when funding for schools is stirring up a lot of emotion from the community. With proposals to cut the music and arts programs as well as more lay-offs, a spending discrepancy of this size is a big deal. After the May 19th budget meeting, Julane felt compelled to write the email.
Allen summarized the events:
“Discussion and comments by members of the public expressing concern with how things got to where they are, you know she watched that meeting and felt as though she just needed to get the clarifying information out.”
Superintendent Tom Shelton held a special press conference on Tuesday where he denied the accusations, saying that there is no discrepancy in the budget spending between years 2011 until now. More will be revealed this evening. Auditor Adam Edelen released a statement Wednesday morning saying that his office will in fact be conducting a special examination of the recent financial mismanagement allegations.
