School 'eating up' fundraising dollars

ELGIN, Texas (KXAN) - In every community, children go door-to-door selling candy, coupon books and magazine subscriptions raising money for their schools.

Implicit in the sales pitch is that the dollars will help pay for classroom amenities that school districts are unable to provide.

But at Elgin Middle School , there is what's called the “MS Miscellaneous Account.” It gets its money from a variety of sources, including concession-stand revenue, campus fundraisers and from students going door-to-door.

But at Elgin Middle School, much of the money in the account is used to feed the principal and her staff.

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By the numbers

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• $2,840.91 -- Catered holiday parties
• $1,340. 66 -- Faculty lounge supplies
• $1,102.04 -- Breakfast tacos.
• $424.26 -- Super Donuts
• $4,591.13 -- Other expenses

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• $10,299 -- Miscellaneous Account total

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According to a KXAN investigation, thousands of dollars from the fund were spent by Middle School Principal Riza Cooper on her staff for breakfast tacos, doughnuts, barbecue lunches and other meals. KXAN examined volumes of documents obtained though an Open Records Request, and interviews with school district officials and parents in the course of the investigation.

“It was constant food, food, food,” said parent Kim Henze, who reviewed some of the expenses. “And when you looked at the receipts, it was almost all food.”

The investigation, which used Elgin school district financial records from the past 14 months, uncovered checks totaling $3,014 earmarked for “faculty meetings” spent to buy food. Those faculty meetings include meat trays, fruit assortments and salads. The staff has gobbled-up ice cream with chocolate syrup, sprinkles and cherries.

Cooper also wrote checks earmarked “Faculty Lounge Supplies” totaling $1,340.66. Those “lounge supplies" looked more like a tailgate party, with receipts for charcoal, lighter fluid, 10 pounds of hamburger and hot dogs with all the fixings. There was also $1,102.04 spent on breakfast tacos. Another $424.26 spent at “Super Donuts.”

KXAN's investigation determined that $10,299 was spent by the principal on food for herself and her staff out of the miscellaneous account.

Under school district policy, Cooper could not be interviewed for this report.

But Kreis Alyea, the district's assistant superintendent of business, said that “miscellaneous account” is decentralized and handled solely at the campus level. He also said that there is nothing improper about how the money is being spent.

“Fair, right legal, all those things”, Ayea said. “I was told by a lawyer many years ago, you know, fairness has no place in the legal system. If it's legal, it’s legal."

He also said it's legal to spend $2,840.91 on catered holiday parties for the staff with that fundraising money, including $250 for the disc jockey. Other food purchases included Golden Chick, a Southside Market “Soul Food Luncheon” and pizza. That total amounted to another $1,576.57.

And no students attended any of those events.

According to school district policy, the money raised for the miscellaneous account is supposed to be used "for the benefit of the students and shall be related to the educational purpose."

Alyea said that purchasing food for faculty and staff does benefit the students. The middle school is ranked "underperforming," and Alyea argued that a happy staff will help students in the long-run.

“We had a consultant come in, and they recommended we have some morale-building, some collaboration, get our teachers together," he said. "And, you know, everybody knows if you feed someone they're going to come.”

The investigation also showed that the Elgin Middle School account also spent hundreds of dollars on gift cards for the staff. That got the attention of the Texas Education Agency , which oversees Texas public school districts.

The agency sent a letter to the district pointing out that officials did not include the gift cards on the staffs' W-2 forms. And that's a concern because it's considered "additional income" when filing taxes.

District officials said they couldn't include them because they have no record of who received the gift cards. Nobody kept track, because in some cases, they were drawn out of a hat. The district has now changed its policy and gift cards are not allowed under any circumstance.

But the overall policy still does not sit well with many Elgin parents.

"Spending money like that is just frivolous," said parent Brandi Watson. "There is not reason (for) it. It needs to benefit the students."