State DOE: DCSS must reimburse $167,000

ALBANY, Ga. — The Georgia Department of Education, after reviewing an appeal from the Dougherty County School System, has asked the district to return $167,000 in unallowable FY 2011 Title I, Part A expenditures.

In November, the department asked the DCSS for additional documentation or reclassification to justify what the department deemed as unallowable Title I expenditures. The system acknowledged nearly $70,000 in unallowable expenditures, but appealed the balance.

The system received its answer Friday in an email from DOE Title Programs Director Margo DeLaune. She wrote:

“This is a final decision regarding the DCSS’s rebuttal of questioned costs for FY11, Title 1, Part A expenditures. After a review of the supporting documentation submitted to the Georgia Department of Education’s Title Programs Division, it has been determined that the DCSS will need to return $98,471.68 in unallowable costs. In addition, DCSS will need to provide the Title Program’s division with copies of supporting documentation showing reclassification of funds as indicated by DCSS’s rebuttal.”

The disallowed expenditures plus the unallowable expenses previously acknowledged by the system total just more than $167,000.

In October, then-DCSS Superintendent Joshua Murfree returned $134,000 to the department for disallowed Title I expenditures in FY 2012.

On Wednesday, the state asked for an additional $406,000 in unallowable FY 2013 Title I expenditures for 10 salaried positions in the district’s Curriculum Content and IT departments.