Minnesota Department of Education was ‘ill prepared,’ created opportunities for fraud in Feeding Our Future case, audit finds

The Minnesota Department of Education’s oversight of Feeding Our Future was inadequate and created opportunities for fraud, according to a report released Thursday.

The education department failed to act on early warning signs and did not properly use its authority to halt rampant fraud of federal child nutrition programs, according to a report by the Office of the Legislative Auditor.

Feeding Our Future, the nonprofit organization at the center of a $250 million fraud case, had demonstrated serious issues before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.

“The failures we highlight in this report are symptoms of a department that was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future,” the report states.

Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Commissioner Willie Jett defended his agency’s actions in a statement responding to the report.

“MDE disputes the OLA’s [Office of the Legislative Auditor] characterization regarding the adequacy of MDE’s oversight – MDE’s oversight of these programs met applicable standards and MDE made effective referrals to law enforcement,” Jett said. “What happened with Feeding Our Future was a travesty – a coordinated, brazen abuse of nutrition programs that exist to ensure access to healthy meals for low-income children. The responsibility for this flagrant fraud lies with the indicted and convicted fraudsters.”

The Minnesota Department of Education serves as the state administrator for federal food-aid programs and distributes funds to sponsor organizations like Feeding Our Future and Partners in Quality Care. The sponsor organizations then disperse those funds to food vendors and food sites, which were supposed to provide ready-to-eat meals to local children.

Several organizations in the Feeding Our Future case reported serving thousands more meals than they actually did — or simply never served any meals at all — in order to receive more federal funds, prosecutors say.

Federal prosecutors allege that 70 defendants working with sponsor organizations in Minnesota stole $250 million in federal funds that were designated to feed underserved children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jurors in federal court convicted five defendants on June 7 of crimes connected to defrauding the federal nutrition programs. Two other defendants were acquitted in the joint trial. That case, which was the first to go to trial, is one of several rings of suspects allegedly falsifying the number of children they reportedly fed in order to receive reimbursement from the federal government.

The first batch of defendants in the case were indicted in September 2022, and others followed. Eighteen defendants have pleaded guilty in the case and await sentencing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.