Teach For America Gets Schooled

Organization That Trains Teachers Gets A Failing Grade For Its Accounting Skills

(CBS)  Since 1990, Teach for America has trained college graduates and professionals to work as teachers in needy schools.

Today, the group has 5,000 teachers-in-training and a $75 million budget - a third of it from local school districts, state and federal government. That's your tax dollars, CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

Which is why it was such a blow when Teach for America recently got a failing grade on the subject of handling the public's money.

The Department of Education Inspector General examined a small slice of the group's federal funding. What they found was shocking.

In all, Teach for America failed to account for half the money audited.

Time and time again the audit said there were no basic records or receipts: None for a $123,878 training expense; none for a $342,428 bill.

Teach for America vice president Kevin Huffman chalks it up to poor record keeping.

"We're confident, we're confident that we spent the money on the training of new teachers," Huffman said.

Attkisson said: "There was no agenda; no description of meals; no list of attendees. That sounds like a little more than sloppy bookkeeping."

"I think it's a question of what records should have been kept," Huffman said.

They should have kept records on a tab for more than a quarter million dollars for food and lodging ($277,262) and $26,812 for teacher certification - but didn't. Auditors say there was no documentation that any teachers actually attended and completed the class, or that there even was a class.

"Alarm bells start to go off usually when you start seeing a recipient of a grant or an earmark not being able to provide basic information," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.

Tax watchdog Paige says it's astonishing that Teach for America has gotten so big without proper accounting systems.

"How do you prove that what you are spending the money on is working?" Paige said.

After the audit, Teach for America tried handing over some newly-found documents, but it didn't help. The Inspector General said they contained "significant discrepancies."

"[They] didn't match up with what you gave them before," Attkisson said to Huffman.

"We gave them ... the wrong documents the first time and then we realized the mistake," Huffman said. "We gave them better documents the second time."

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Read more from Sharyl Attkisson at Couric & Co. blog.

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But still not good enough. The audit concluded they should pay taxpayers back the disputed amounts - with interest.

Teach for America says it's learned a lesson, and switched to new accounting system.

Taxpayers better hope so, the group is slated to get $12 million more federal tax dollars this year.

[barbaram99]

I am not a teacher. Yes I was a student in pubic school and yes I had to listen to my teachers. I could not see my lesson books. We had reading,spelling,numbers,penmanship,social studies,phy ed recess. I started school at 10. Sp ed. Grad in 74. I no idea other than they don''t teach penmenship as I read that from a teacher talking about it om line. I had teachers scared of my blindness. I sure did listen to my teachers and trusted them and not them foster homes, In my day the staff were there for us. Not this krap we read about today.

[txgrouch2006]

BarbaraM99 scribbled
Now teachers are too lazy to teach what we had to why pensmanship was one.
------------
I can see you''ve never BEEN a teacher. Or, apparently, LISTENED TO ONE.

[barbaram99]

We hear of teachers that are not fit to teach. The adults are the problem and have been. True kids are the ones hurt. What are they taught at teachers'' college..to tear each other down. The schools won''t in some states bar a hearing dog for the deaf and yet that same school allows krap We had a dress code, Ye allow the baggy outfits. I ''member the rules teachers have their and we have our dress code and that was in the 70s. Now teachers are too lazy to teach what we had to why pensmanship was one.We are paying for the schools. The sfaff have a problem so fix it.

[jd2408]

There is so much waste in our government. It seems they don''t take taxpayer money seriously. It is just funny money to them.

[deacon20081]

And the IRS audits small business over minor descripencies....go figure

[txgrouch2006]

SamTheTVCat wrote
But to say that you couldn''''t teach because kids weren''''t taking responsibility . . . hmmm . . .
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Thanks for a mostly favorable response. But like I said, it wasn''t the kids, it was THE GROWNUPS who refused to take responsibility.

Administrators treating teachers lower than dirt. Parents treating teachers like punching bags.

The kids weren''t the problem. They just sat there laughing at the grownups tearing each other to pieces.

[barbaram99]

Since we are on this subject,SamTheTVCat,I read yer posts and the old timers. I have been posted on CSB'' Blog site for close to 2 years. MichelleM99 and now BarbaraM99. Barbara is my real name. I ''member my school days. I hated school and fostor homes. No school system will meet the needs of all its pupils. A sighted teacher can not relate to a legally blind in the class. I am from the old days. I had a magifier but I was not allowed acess to it,no large print books,no tape recorder. I could not see to keep up plus boys came first. It was always *Barbara your a girl and girl can''t this/that.* I got so bloody PISSED of hearing that at home and school. I ended up hating my gender and blindness. At the same time told this is the greatest nation on earth. I said yeah if yer a boy. Some kids just can''t get the basics. I just about drove my rooom mate crazy. He is fulled sighted. details, I need more than the sighted. 64-74. That was the Maine school system. Back then girls married,had kids,stayed home. I told them none of that alled to me. I told the fools I will remain single/ no kids. I am true to my word.

[samthetvcat]

Ooh, okay my last comment was a little harsh . . . I guess I''m looking at your assessments through the experience I''ve had of tutoring ''at-risk'' kids who had fallen behind, and I always got the sense that it wasn''t any great teaching method or any great technique I ever brought to the table that helped them learn . . . it was the fact that I never gave up on them and I never made their success a measure of mine. Kids who are struggling get enough of that from everybody else. Also was it about them or was it about me? If it wasn''t about them, then what was the point of me being there to ''help''? I mean like, instead of letting their frustration rub off on me I made sure my determination rubbed off on them sort of a deal (?) And then just kept breaking down the goals to smaller and smaller chunks . . .

Maybe on a larger scale when there''s like 25 kids instead of just one, they wear you down a lot faster though (?) I don''t know . . .

[samthetvcat]

---"What''s one major change that would improve the condition of public schooling in the U.S.? Adopt a two-tiered system like Japan and many European countries use. After the first five or nine years of primary school, send "university material" students to one high school and send "worker bee material" students to vocational high schools."---
Posted by anon00

Without being in the system, it''s impossible to tell who''s to ''blame'' amidst the finger-pointing based just on the info the two of you have provided. Although I think most people would tend to be skeptical of anyone that accuses others of lacking ''personal resposibility'' without themselves reflecting on their own performance to thus demonstrate that they understand the concept of personal responsibility (?)

Like does the average teacher today tend to be ''worker bee material'' or ''university material''? Perhaps therein lies the problem(?) :o

[samthetvcat]

PPS Or was it Tom DeLay (?)

[samthetvcat]

PS Here''s a link to the whole Teach for America takes on George Bush thingie - it was in 2003 (Who Killed Teach for America?):

http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,476274,00.html

[samthetvcat]

Aren''t problems with questionable budget practices rampant in the domain of registered non-profit organizations - because by virtue of their status, they''re not required to file nearly as much public disclosure paperwork and don''t have nearly as much government oversight. The rationale is supposed to be that if good is done by the organization, then the benefits ultimately outweigh the good.

I thought there was talk a couple of years ago of Bush trying to revoke funding for this program, but didn''t they wage a pretty aggressive PR campaign to pressure him to back down? Sounds like the GOP are maybe fighting back (?)

PS txgrouch, my cousin had a similar experience of wanting to work in an inner-city school - she''s teaching on an indian reservation now, and the kids are really sweet and much more suited to her temperament. Not sure if they''re any more into learning because after all how fun was learning when you were a kid LOL. But to say that you couldn''t teach because kids weren''t taking responsibility . . . hmmm . . .

[barbaram99]

Teacher Thank ye..How can it be fixed when nobody cares. Now don''t grade on my poor writing. Did ye know that sp needs kids were barred from class in the 50s and 60s. I was pissed. I strated sp ed at 10. I was the only legally blind student with c/p. The teachers told me they would not teach a blind child. I was handed my dipoma at 19. I was a foster child as well. I did try, I had very little faith in adults. I am 53, I did feel safer at school as I was abused in the homes. That was pre computer day. Not much has changed has it. In my day ye went to the office and grounded.

[txgrouch2006]

What%u2019s it like to be a teacher in a public high school?

You walk into the school building on your first day. You see teenagers running up and down the halls yelling and screaming, swinging their arms, whooping and laughing, making animal noises, throwing trash on the floor, jumping up and down on top of the cafeteria tables right in front of the principal, who is telling them to stop it, stop it RIGHT NOW, and they%u2019re all totally ignoring her %u2013

and from now on it%u2019s YOUR FAULT, because now YOU%u2019RE THE TEACHER.

And it just stays that way the whole time you%u2019re working there, until one day you get fed up with getting blamed for everything everyone else is doing while they take no responsibility whatsoever for anything, especially the things they do themselves, which are always someone else%u2019s fault, mainly YOURS because you%u2019re a BAD TEACHER %u2013

and then you quit.

And that was your brief career as a public high school teacher.

[txgrouch2006]

I was a public school teacher for a while. I went through a program like this one.

It''s tempting to compare public education with working in an insane asylum. Except that I''ve seen an insane asylum, and the patients there are more rational than what you have to deal with in a public school. I''m talkng about the ADULTS, the kids just think the grown ups are a joke. They''re right.

These "teacher mills" are just a desperate attempt to churn out enough unsuspecting victims to keep the classrooms full when the average length of a public school teaching career is TWO YEARS. And that''s including the veterans who can survive five, ten, fifteen or more years. Most new teachers last LESS THAN TWO YEARS. I had to quit just short of one year. I just couldn''t go into the building anymore. It was like a nightmare that lasted all day.

It''s not the kids. It''s the grown-ups. The administrators treat teachers like they''re lower than dirt. The parents treat teachers like punching bags. Nobody is learning anything, because NOBODY WANTS THEM TO LEARN ANYTHING except how to take NO RESPONSIBILITY WHATSOEVER FOR ANYTHING.

THAT is your tax dollar at work.