State Auditor Gary Jones released a report late Wednesday of a Special Audit of the Department of Education (click here to read the report).  The audit was requested by the Department of Education to look into allegations that former Assistant State Superintendent Misty Kimbrough falsified travel reimbursement forms and misused leave policies.  The report recommends that the matter “should be referred to the appropriate legal authority for review and evaluation.”

Among the findings:

• Kimbrough was reimbursed for travel expenses, including a hotel stay, for a meeting she did not attend in White Oak.
• Kimbrough was reimbursed for travel expenses, including a hotel stay, for a meeting in Oklahoma City which is considered her “official duty station area” and therefore not eligible for overnight reimbursement.
• Kimbrough may have submitted false travel documents not to get the small sum of money but to make it appear she was at work rather than taking leave time for which she was reimbursed upon her termination.
• Kimbrough received nearly $12,700 for her unused leave time, but as much as $3,000 may have been for leave that was taken, but not recorded as leave.

The audit also found that the Department of Education does not have standardized time keeping policies in every division which allowed for abuses to happen.

Department of Education spokesman Damon Gardenhire says the audit “is indicative that there were things being done that shouldn’t have been” and that making the Department more accountable has been one of the goals of Superintendent Janet Barresi since she took office a year ago.  Gardenhire says Barresi “was frustrated the first half of the year” because the State Board of Education refused to let her manage her staff as she saw fit.  That changed in late May when the Board gave her the power ahead of a state law taking effect later in the year to do the same thing.  Later, a law went into effect allowing Governor Mary Fallin to appoint all new members of the Board.

“The new superintendent has been very diligent that this agency runs efficiently and if something is not right, she brings it to the attention of the right people,” said Gardenhire. “She’s right sizing the agency and making it more responsive to the public.”  Gardenhire says policy changes – such as better time keeping rules that will be more standardized – are in the process of being implemented.

The audit states that in the course of this audit, investigators uncovered other issues not directly related to the travel reimbursements that will be covered in a second audit.

Kimbrough was in charge of Special Education for the State Department of Education until she was terminated in June of last year.  She is apparently serving currently as Interim Principal of ASTEC Charter School’s High School.