Kansas City Public Schools could pay dearly for falsifying attendance records

Kansas City Public Schools could pay dearly for falsifying student attendance records — a significant setback for a severely challenged district that had finally been moving the needle in the right direction in recent years.

An internal review and an outside investigation confirmed that at least seven officials under the leadership of former Superintendent Steve Green tampered with attendance data for three years. Three of the employees are no longer with the district, officials said Tuesday. The other four have been placed on paid administrative leave while KCPS continues its inquiry.

District officials have been working with the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education to take corrective action. Attendance data has not been manipulated since Superintendent Mark Bedell was hired in 2016, KCPS officials said, and the district has adopted new policies to safeguard against falsifying records.

But Kansas City Public Schools still will pay a price for the previous administration’s misdeeds.

Earlier this year, state officials notified the Kansas City school district that a former employee had reported the falsification of student attendance records by KCPS employees from 2013 to 2016. An investigation revealed that a small group of employees electronically manipulated data in an effort to meet the state standard for attendance.

Consequently, the district received an artificially high score in the attendance category of the Missouri School Improvement Program. That resulted in more state funding and a higher overall score for the district in its effort to achieve full accreditation.

The scheme, revealed publicly Wednesday by the district, is a disappointing blow for Kansas City Public Schools.

Bedell didn’t create this mess. But he’s now responsible for cleaning it up.

“As superintendent, I own the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “And that’s how it goes.”

After making steady progress under Bedell’s leadership, this new stain on the long-struggling district’s spotty record threatens to derail KCPS’ momentum. With Bedell at the helm, the district has moved closer to full accreditation, and last year, its state Annual Performance Report was in the full accreditation range, the district’s highest APR score ever.

Now, questions about the validity of those results no doubt will follow.

“What we earned last year was authentic,” Bedell said.

Pattie Mansur, chair of the school board, said, “It’s upsetting to find ourselves in this place.”

For his part, Green, the former superintendent, denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.

“If I was aware, there would have been immediate action,” he told The Star Editorial Board.

Green left Kansas City in 2015 to lead the DeKalb County School District in Georgia. But he signed a separation agreement with the district last week and is now being investigated by Georgia education officials for failing to report potential ethics violations by teachers to the state’s certification agency, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

If Green was responsible for a staff that defrauded the Missouri Department of Education, then he and his employees should be held accountable. But Green has moved on, leaving his successors to deal with the fallout.

It’s not fair for current students to pay for the sins of the previous administration. But by the same token, there must be repercussions to deter districts from cheating their way to accreditation.

Unfortunately for KCPS, the penalty for similar transgressions has been financial, and the ramifications for this scandal likely will have a dollar sign attached. That’s devastating for a district that can’t afford to waste a single cent.

The now-closed Hope Academy in Kansas City was sued after failing to repay the state for falsifying attendance records in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway said the charter school overcharged the state $4.3 million in those two years.

Hope Academy officials submitted attendance data to the state that was incomplete, inaccurate and significantly overstated actual attendance. The case was settled out of court for a fraction of what was owed.

For Kansas City Public Schools, the prospect of being forced to repay potentially millions of dollars to the state is a gut punch.

“Whether it’s five pennies or $5 million, we can’t afford it,” Bedell said.

While the district has made strides under Bedell, much work remains. KCPS continues to struggle with attendance rates, in no small part because of its high mobility rate.

More than 40% of students in the district change schools during the course of a school year. The district received zero points for attendance in the most recent school performance reviews.

Now, KCPS will necessarily suffer the consequences for a few bad actors who tried to take a shortcut to full accreditation.

The district likely will be forced to reconcile financially with the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education, and, going forward, KCPS will need to ensure its record-keeping is compliant with state standards — and invulnerable to manipulation.

Then — and only then — will stakeholders have confidence that Kansas City Public Schools are legitimately making forward progress.