A bombshell internal investigation by the LAUSD reveals the school district wasted $200 million of taxpayer money last year on unnecessary salaries.
NBCLA obtained the audit, done by LAUSD's Inspector General.
The audit said there are some 1,700 employees on the district's payroll who shouldn’t be there. These are employees who were hired for temporary jobs, but stayed on after the funding for their jobs expired, and continued to get paid by the district.
"I'd like to know what they're doing? They're getting paid. What are they producing?" said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers of L.A.
The internal audit said the district last year employed 1,358 teachers, and another 348 non-teaching employees, whose jobs were "unfunded and expired," costing the District $200-million in 2009 alone. LAUSD's Inspector General said this waste of money has put LAUSD at an “unacceptable high level” of financial risk.
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines would not speak with NBCLA on camera about the audit's embarrassing findings. But in an emailed statement, Cortines said he was aware of of this problem revealed by the audit, and has already worked "to address this issue."
The superintendent said he agrees with most findings of the audit, but "disagrees with the cost cited in the report" regarding the amount of money.
The revelation that LAUSD is once again wasting a large amount of money comes at a bad time. The district is asking teachers to take a pay cut and accept furloughs.
"My teachers are going to be angry," said Duffy.
