I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The state will take over Jemez Mountain School District’s finances after a special audit revealed that $3.3 million was embezzled from the district over several years, Public Education Secretary Veronica Garcia announced this morning.
“The findings released in the State Auditor’s report leave me no recourse but to suspend the Board of Education of Jemez Mountain Public Schools from acting as the Board of Finance effective immediately,” Garcia said in a news release.
A special audit by the State Auditor’s Office found that 538 checks were taken from the school district’s check stocks from Jan. 1, 2002 through June 30 of this year, according to an executive summary of the special audit. Authorized signatures were forged and 535 checks were cashed or deposited into personal accounts. Here is the executive summary of the special audit.
Kathy Borrego, the district’s former longtime business manager, is suspected of carrying out the embezzlement. She was fired June 18.
State Auditor Hector Balderas commissioned the special audit after the school district’s superintendent, Adan Delgado, notified the state agency that he believed that Borrego had embezzled funds from the district.
“I appreciate Superintendent Delgado’s swift action to report the appearance of embezzlement,” Garcia continued. “However, ultimately one of the Board of Education’s major responsibilities is fiduciary in nature.”
In a press release, Delgado said he and Jemez Mountain Board of Education “fully support the Public Education Department’s decision to take over the District’s board of finance function while our community recovers from this tragedy. The oversight provided by the Public Education Department will serve to ensure the highest possible level of fiscal accountability.”
Jemez Mountain is one of the state’s smaller school districts. It operates five schools — two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and one charter school — and had an enrollment of only 373 students in fiscal 2008-09, according to state and district documents.
The state Public Education Department‘s takeover of a school district’s finances is rare, but it did it three years ago with the West Las Vegas school district in 2006.
That takeover was due to actions by that district’s former bilingual coordinator Roberta Vigil, who spent nearly $10,000 on an invitation-only bash in April 2006. The party, which featured music by Al Hurricane and was called a “workshop” on requisition forms, was paid for through a special appropriation passed by the Legislature with the help of Vigil’s husband, state Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Ribera.
A jury this year convicted Roberta Vigil of fraud over $2,500 and conspiracy to commit fraud over $2,500.
Garcia said in today’s press release said she would “immediately take control of all public school funds under the control of the Board of Education of the Jemez Mountain Public Schools.”
She also will issue a request for proposals for an audit of all funds under the control of the Jemez Mountain Public Schools. That audit will be conducted in conjunction and cooperation with the audit and investigation currently under way by the Office of the State Auditor and other authorities, Garcia said in her press release.
She said the Public Education Department will report any violations to the proper agencies or authorities, including law enforcement or prosecutorial authorities if criminal activity is suspected.
The state will act as the fiscal agent for the Jemez Mountain Public Schools until such time “as I determine that the Board of Education of the Jemez Mountain Public Schools is capable of acting as a board of finance,” she said in the press release.
“PED staff will continue to review the practices of the district, but my ultimate goal is to institute a degree of accountability that includes better financial controls, better management and oversight, and adherence to generally accepted accounting practices,” Garcia added in the press release. “I am confident that the Jemez Mountain Board of Education will fully cooperate with this action. I truly believe that the Board is committed to providing the educational needs of children in its district and to working with me and PED staff to resolve all areas of concern so that the district can move forward to strengthen student success in an environment of fiscal accountability.”
