WASHINGTON (TND) — According to watchdog group Open the Books, the U.S. Department of State's Office of Overseas Schools mismanaged more than $3 million.
The Office of Overseas Schools is a federal agency aimed at helping U.S. government employees abroad send their children to schools that meet American educational standards.
“It was one out of every four dollars of grant-making at the small federal agency that the inspector general found they mismanaged,” said Open The Books’ Adam Andrzejewski to The National Desk’s Jan Jeffcoat.
According to Andrzejewski, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz found “a lack of accounting control” and improper controls “on who was paid.”
“And then there was no follow up on a big $3 million worth of grant-making, and whether the jobs that they paid for were actually finished,” said Andrzejewski.
A recent report from the inspector general claims that “office staff did not coordinate or share information among themselves, resulting in overseas schools and embassy staff having to provide information multiple times in response to separate requests.”
Every single dollar that's mismanaged is a dollar that doesn't go into the classroom to educate children,” said Andrzejewski.