(Trying to) follow the money

Public and private funding is pouring into Teach for America as the highly regarded organization expands the number of recent college graduates that it places in some of the nation's toughest-to-staff classrooms. The organization plans to quadruple its operating budget from $40 million to $160 million between 2005 and 2010 as in doubles, to some 8,400, the number of its"corps members" working in disadvanted urban and rural public schools.

But the Office of Inspector General at the US Department of Education has charged TFA with failing to account for half of the $6 million the organization received in federal discretionary grants between 2003 and 2005. The IG's office scrutinized a sample of the federal funds and concluded in a report released last month that "TFA did not fully comply with applicable laws and regulations..." The organization "could not provide adequate supporting documentation [for half of its expenditures] because it lacked sound fiscal accountability controls," the IG's office wrote, adding that, "On several occassions, we requested additional documentation from TFA's Vice President of Accounting and Controls, but she never provided us with adequate supporting documentation or an explanation of the expenditures."

TFA told the IG's office that it has since implemented a new accounting system and updated its fiscal policies and procedures.