The Montgomery County Council Audit Committee met Monday to review reports from the Office of Inspector General on Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) mismanagement of funds.
This comes after the release of a four-page report on July 30 alleging that MCPS mismanaged its $130 million contract for electric school buses. The school district failed to properly hold their contractor accountable for late deliveries and failures and did not terminate the contract despite these issues according to the report.
The district failed to assess over $372,000 in penalties for unavailable buses from February 2022 to March 2024 per the report. They are currently negotiating with the contractor over $1.5 million due to MCPS in late fees.
Dana Edwards, chief of district operations for MCPS, acknowledged the district’s mismanagement of the buses and spoke about challenges with bus shortages as a reason for their inadequate response.
Councilmember Andrew Friedson thanked the district officials for their acknowledgment of the mistakes and urged improvements on the implementation of meeting climate goals. After questioning, Edwards shared that there was no plan to terminate the contract after the buses were not delivered, despite there being a term that the district would do so.
The audit committee also reviewed the Inspector General reports on the MCPS procurement of crisis management services and investigation of alleged mismanagement of grant funds provided to the PTA at Sargent Shriver Elementary School.
Related story:
Inspector General: MCPS Lost Millions by Mismanaging Purchase of Electric School Buses
