Falsifying attendance records will cost Kansas City school district nearly $200,000
Kansas City Public Schools must repay the Missouri state education department $192,730 — money it collected after turning in fake student attendance data.
Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday confirmed the amount owed.
The district revealed last month that seven central office employees had sent falsified attendance data to the state for three years, from 2013 to 2016.
The data claimed some students were present in school when they were not, all in an effort to score higher on the state’s Annual Performance Review. The state wants 90 percent of students to be in school 90 percent of the time.
As a result, KCPS received more state funding than it was actually due. Missouri schools are funded based on students’ daily attendance.
A former district employee tipped off the state about the faked data. The district called for an independent investigation and in November released the results.
KCPS received approximately $111,705 more than it should have, and Kansas City charter schools received approximately $81,025 less than they should have.
Considering the district’s annual operating budget is more than $257 million, the amount owed is “not catastrophic,” said Ray Weikal, a district spokesman. “It’s not good and it is not OK, but in how it will impact out ability to operate and educate our students, it is not catastrophic.”
The data was altered under former Superintendent Steve Green’s leadership, before current Superintendent Mark Bedell was hired.
Green has denied knowing that employees were tinkering with student attendance records under his watch.
School officials said the district intends to submit this repayment within the next two weeks.
