The transportation division for D.C. special-education students is coming under sharp scrutiny after recent budget submissions that include consulting contracts and a payroll accounting error showing a bus attendant earning more than $1.8 million a year.
Schools Chief Financial Officer John Musso requested the review in a Jan. 17 letter to David I. Gilmore, the division’s court-appointed administrator, according to recent federal court filings obtained by The Washington Times.
Mr. Musso also is asking for a breakdown of all $350,000 in consulting deals, $500,000 for satellite technology in buses and an explanation for giving no-bid contracts to instructors and uniform suppliers.
The request also calls for job descriptions for an assistant transportation administrator making $139,739 a year, a senior associate to the transportation administrator making $102,692 annually and a senior advisor making $80,153 a year.
He said the bus attendant’s $1.8 million salary for 2006 and 2007 “appears to be in error.” However, he wants to know whether the error had an effect on the budgets.
Mr. Musso declined to comment, and a school system spokeswoman said officials could not comment beyond what was included in the court filings.
However, pay records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show the attendant received a salary last year of less than $25,000.
Mr. Gilmore last week referred questions to lawyer John F. Cooney, who was unavailable for comment this week.
The school system has battled about budget costs for months with Mr. Gilmore, who was appointed administrator in 2003 and manages about $70 million a year.
Mr. Gilmore has stated in previous court filings that most of the division’s costs — including fuel and vehicle expenses — are beyond his control.
He also has said school board members have stymied his reform efforts so much that he asked a federal judge to allow him to enter into labor agreements without their approval.
Board members say Mr. Gilmore has overspent so much that they had to make cuts in other areas of the school system.
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