The Montgomery County Office of Inspector General found that Montgomery County Public Schools paid an improper $149,063 invoice to the county police department in 2023 without verifying the charges, according to a report that was released Tuesday.
MCPD did not review the payment either, according to the Inspector General’s office. The report payment in question was made in June of 2023 for officer coverage inside public schools.
The police department’s invoice contained approximately $45,000 in unsupported charges and approximately $2,700 in expenses that had previously been paid by MCPS.
That same year, MCPS received $500,000 from the Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS) in the form of a grant that provides reimbursement for expenses related to school resource officers providing security support at schools. The grant also allowed for the reimbursement of expenses related to police officers who work overtime at school events, as well as eligible training and equipment.
MCSS decided not to reimburse the school district because it had not received adequate documentation for the charged amounts.
Specifically, police staff did not verify the accuracy of a request for funds before signing it and submitting it, according to the report.
Also, the school district staff involved in preparing and approving the police department’s payment request could not explain “if they validated the invoice prior to submitting the request,” according to the report. The person who approved the request assumed someone else had verified the accuracy prior to asking for a signature.
The OIG recommended that MCPD and MCPS take steps to strengthen their verification policy, train their employees and work together to reconcile payment discrepancies.
The OIG findings were sent to Superintendent Thomas Taylor in a Feb. 26 letter.
