MISSOURI – Missouri’s state auditor has denied a request to look into the state’s charter schools.
Earlier this month, FOX 2 reported that the local teacher’s union requested the audit.
“There’ve been more than 50 percent of the charter schools that have opened in the St. Louis area that have closed within 10 years. So, there’s some money that churns through that, and maybe it’s all been legitimately handled. We hope that it has been,” Local 420 teacher’s union spokesperson Byron Clemens said.
Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick denied the initial request with the following response:
“While I would love to thoroughly review the performance of every school in the state, we prioritize audits where concerns have been identified and brought to our attention, or there is another compelling audit interest. In my time as State Auditor, we have received only one complaint regarding a charter school. After thoroughly investigating this complaint, it was determined the concerns had already been addressed and expending our limited resources auditing that particular school would not be the most beneficial use of our time for taxpayers. I encourage anyone with specific concerns of improper activity in any charter school to contact our Whistleblower Hotline. We will investigate any submissions we receive, and if the claims are found to be credible and an audit would be beneficial to taxpayers, we will move as quickly as we can to begin that work.”