SC Board of Education denies Richland One’s appeal of fiscal watch designation

Today, the State Board of Education has denied Richland One's appeal against the SC Department of Education fiscal watch designation for the district.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)— Today, the State Board of Education has denied Richland One’s appeal against the SC Department of Education fiscal watch designation for the district.

The decision comes after an audit showed 22 occasions where money was improperly used. The audit focused on a period from March 2022 through August 2022. Nearly 4,000 transactions and 426 statements were found.

Richland One’s Executive Director of Communications says, “Richland One maintains strong internal controls (checks and balances), which include a review of all P-card transactions on a monthly basis by our Procurement Department. Also, as stated in our response to the State Department of Education, the district has worked and continues to work to tighten those internal controls even further.”

In a previous story, outgoing State Superintendent Molly Spearman said she notified the District Tuesday, and entered the declaration after finding things like using a card for personal purchases.

Receipts were not turned in and card used by someone other than the cardholder. Things that were bought were sent to a home, instead of the office and several other counts.

Richland One officials say a former employee is responsible and they have been turned over to law enforcement.