EL Paso Independent School District investigation: Simple posters in costly contract.

FROM ELPASOTIMES.COM -

Taxpayers footed the bill for an expensive but sparse set of posters and handouts in the El Paso Independent School District that are now the focus of an FBI investigation.




The district used state grant funds to pay Infinity Resources ... & Associates $360,000 for staff development and math-related posters and handouts under a 5-year-old contract that has left Superintendent Lorenzo García facing federal charges of fraud and embezzlement.



The cost of the materials, which totaled $319,500, in the El Paso district, is a stark contrast to the $11,191 the Houston Independent School District paid the company for several similar items.



García allegedly steered a $450,000 no-bid contract to Tracy Rose, a woman with whom he had a personal relationship, according to the FBI. The FBI also said the superintendent had a personal financial interest in the company. He has pleaded not guilty and is out on bond while he awaits trial.



The indictment has left EPISD officials inundated with questions about what students eventually received for the money, the kinds of safeguards that were factored into the agreement and to what degree companies are examined before they are chosen for their services.



No specific demands appeared to be required of Rose, who was awarded the district contract after signing an affidavit stating that she was the sole vendor for specialized data-driven materials that would help boost student math scores on the state's



standardized test, known as the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.


School district officials said no written contract was ever drawn up for Infinity Resources ... & Associates. Evaluations of the services and materials provided by the Houston company were not conducted.



School districts generally do not have to sign contracts with companies providing materials. Instead, administrators contend that the purchase orders for the materials serve as a contract.



But the purchase order for the materials Rose provided the district simply directs the company to supply: "specialized TAKS driven materials for curriculum implementation. Items are to be specifically designed to meet EPISD's current data needs."



The El Paso Times has learned through a request for public information that board trustees and district administrators never required Rose to submit a detailed proposal with examples of the materials she planned to provide or with itemized costs.



The copyright posters Infinity Resources...& Associates provided the district include basic examples of math equations as well as conversions for measurement and time.



One poster listed the numbers 1-20, spelled them out and included pictures. For example, it had the number 8, spelled out eight and then showed eight strawberries.



A multiplication and division handout, titled Fact Families, showed that 6 multiplied by 4 equals 24 and 24 divided by 4 equals 6. The chart had several blank spaces intended for students to repeat the exercise.



Another chart for which the company claimed a copyright simply had words such as "Work Station #1" and "Work Station #2." A description provided by the district about the charts said they served as a tool that "allows teachers to place students into workstations quickly by placing their names in the correct work station quadrant."



The district paid the company for the rights to the instructional materials but was separately responsible for all printing and distribution costs. The tally of those costs remains unclear.



EPISD Chief Business Officer Ken Parker said that normally materials are sent to the district warehouse, which checks the items against the approved purchase order before the vendor gets paid. Parker said the situation was different with Rose, who received payment for the items ahead of time.



"My understanding is these items were hand-carried into the district by the vendor," Parker said. "They never really went through receiving like what most purchases go through."



EPISD was not the only school district to buy such items from the company.



Houston Independent School District bought similar materials from the company at a cost of $11,191 between September 2005 and March 2006.



Because EPISD did not itemize its costs, it is difficult to provide a direct comparison. Still, documents provided by the Houston ISD in response to a public information request by the Times show the price the district paid for several comparable items.



The Fact Families multiplication and division charts cost the Houston ISD $9.95 apiece, the work station posters and labels were $14.95 and the number word chart with pictures was $41.95, according to invoices from the company.



Parker said the EPISD has since worked to improve procedures and create a system with tighter restrictions that makes vendors more accountable. Such measures were not in place when school board trustees approved the purchase agreement with little oversight and nearly no direct requirements of the company.



A video of the meeting shows Trustee Carlos Cordova, who has pleaded guilty to public corruption charges, making the motion to award the $450,000 no-bid contract to Rose's company at a meeting on July 11, 2006.



The contract was approved without discussion on a unanimous voice vote.



Rose then received two checks each of $180,000 -- the first on Aug. 4 and the other payment on Aug. 18.



García's signature is on both checks but district officials said the signature is a stamp that is used for all payments. The remaining $90,000 approved by the school board was never paid to the company, which did not provide the additional materials that it had promised, according to district documents.



The school district used state Accelerated Reading Instruction and Accelerated Math Instruction grant funds to pay the company. The grant program, which spread $144 million among districts statewide during 2005-06, was aimed at helping students who did not pass the state's standardized test.



Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said a statewide evaluation of the grant program shows that districts spent most of their funding on teacher pay, supplemental curriculum, tutoring and supplies and materials.



"What a lot of districts tended to do with it was set up very small classes before or after school or during the school day that were focused on whatever the students were struggling with," Ratcliffe said.



While contracts are not generally written for the purchase of materials, school districts use them when they are paying a person or company for services.



The school board agreed to give Rose $40,500 for staff development. District officials acknowledged that a contract should have been crafted for the services.



The price for the services included projected costs of travel, hotels and meals for 18 visits to the district. No receipts were required of Rose for the travel expenses since the school board had agreed to the costs ahead of time, district officials said.



"This whole transaction basically occurred in one department," Parker said.



He said the district's Department of Curriculum and Instruction, without the participation of any other department, found the company, processed the paperwork, took it to the school board and crafted the purchase order.



"Basically, the only time it went through purchasing is when the purchase order was released and, looking at the face of the purchase order, it didn't look like anything out of the ordinary," Parker said.



The school district is seeking to withhold some public records that the El Paso Times requested about the company by claiming an exemption in the state's Public Information Act that pertains to pending litigation. It has asked the attorney general for an opinion on the matter.



"EPISD believes that some of the responsive materials relate to underlying issues in the Criminal Proceeding," Clyde Pine, a lawyer for the district, wrote in his letter to the attorney general.



He added, "As such, EPISD intends to withhold certain responsive materials."



The Times is unable to see which documents or information the school district is attempting to withhold from release.