After forcing watchdog volunteers off of its Audit Committee, the Tucson Unified School District is seeking administration friendly volunteers for it’s Audit Committee. The TUSD Governing Board majority voted on Tuesday, to end the terms of the more vocal members of the by placing a residency requirement on eligbility.
The majority of the Board, under the leadership of Adelita Grijalva also voted to place Grijalva on the committee.
Last month, Grijalva said she was afraid an internal auditor, sought by Board members Michael Hicks and Mark Stegeman would become a watchdog. As a result, Superintendent H.T. Sanchez has moved aggressively to thwart meaningful oversight and issued a press release on Friday announcing that the district is also seeking an Internal Auditor.
Contrary to the suggestions of both previous auditors, consultants, and Stegeman, an MIT Ph.D. and Economics professor at the University of Arizona, who had recommended that an internal auditor should be hired that would report to the Board, Sanchez created a position that will only make “reports to the Governing Board and will report to the superintendent for administrative matters.”
Applicants for the Internal Auditor position will be interviewed by the Audit Committee, led by Grijalva, which will recommend a candidate for the Governing Board’s approval. Board members Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster have rarely voted against Grijalva.
Administrators, have been fleeing the District during Sanchez’s tenure, as a result according to Sanchez, “With a couple of key retirements, we have the funding for the position. The Governing Board will vote on who gets the position, and the auditor will report all findings to them.”
Dr. Sanchez raised eyebrows at the state Capitol last month when he misrepresented the requirements of the desegregation order in a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee. In that hearing, Sanchez fought efforts by a desegregation plaintiff representative, and other stakeholders, who sought an audit of desegregation funds. For years, those funds have been used inappropriately for regular operating expenses.
After his poor performance before the House Appropriations Committee, Sanchez moved quickly to evict Chairman Jim Lovelace and Member Chuck Kill from TUSD’s Audit Committee. According to sources, Sanchez was furious after Lovelace’s Arizona Daily Star op-ed, Time for TUSD to stop making unforced errors, made its way into legislators’ hands.
Although Lovelace, a C.P.A. owns property and pays taxes in the District, Sanchez and Grijalva are now looking for volunteers who live within the District’s boundaries to serve on the Audit Committee.
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