ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick announced Thursday an audit of St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) following increasing calls by many members in the St. Louis community for one.
"We are here today to answer the call of many families who have more questions than answers when it comes to the ability of their school to provide a quality education," said Fitzpatrick in a press conference on Thursday.
"Just a little a week away from the start of the school year, they don't know if they will have reliable transportation to get there."
Calls for an audit into SLPS have been mounting following Superintendent Keisha Scarlett being placed on "temporary leave of absence" just weeks before the school year was set to begin.
Among those to call for an audit included St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones.
Fitzpatrick says the Missouri State Auditors Office had plans to audit the district before the calls came.
"We've been concerned with the performance of the St. Louis Public Schools for some time now, and in fact this was an audit that was already on our audit plan at the start of the (upcoming) fiscal year," said Fitzpatrick. "However, the events that have become public in the recent weeks have made it imperative we move that timeline up."
Fitzpatrick joined "The Chris and Amy Show" to go further into the reasons why the Auditor's Office is going to audit SLPS.
"Number one, the student's reading proficiency is really bad , about 80% of the kids in the district don't read proficiently," said Fitzpatrick. "They also have a ton of operational issues, a tremendous number of vacant buildings that are just dilapidating and with no plan with what they are going to do with those.
"Those were some of things that were on our radar and one of the reasons why we selected the district for audit."
During Scarlett's first year as superintendent, the district's finances went from a multi-million dollar surplus of $17 million to a projected deficit of $35 million. Scarlett's time as superintendent included a mass hiring of administrators and officials with ties to Scarlett and at her last stop with Seattle Public Schools.
One of those hires included current Acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade, who served as deputy superintendent under Scarlett.
SLPS is also currently mired by a bus situation that still is a major question mark after Missouri Central Bus Company cut ties with the district. Recently, the SLPS transportation staff announced an emergency transportation plan that notably includes students using taxis, rideshares and giving students metro bus passes.
The emergency transportation plan has drawn plenty of question marks and concerns from parents.
Auditor Fitzpatrick is asking for whistleblowers to come forward and help his teams investigation, saying they should have come forward sooner.
"The fact that it has taken as long as it has for this information to become public and was only brought to our intention by becoming public is an example of if there is a whistleblower, they could've come forward earlier," said Fitzpatrick. "We gotten in before as much damage that has potentially been done was done and stop some of that from occurring."
Auditor Fitzpatrick says this will be a complicated audit and will take likely at least a year to complete
SLPS fall semester is set to begin on Monday, Aug. 19.
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