Amid allegations of overbilling, environmental hazards and spiraling costs at the Belmont Learning Center in downtown L.A. in the late 1990s, the state Legislature created a separate investigative office within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The new inspector general was authorized to issue subpoenas, and charged with examining operations in the district with a piercing and unimpeded eye. But the position was authorized for only 15 years, until the end of 2014.
The first inspector general reported on serious shortfalls in accountability and oversight at Belmont. Four employees left the school district after he made his findings known, and five were placed on extended administrative leave. Subsequent audits and investigations that went beyond Belmont uncovered costly waste in the purchase of textbooks, misuse of federal money intended to feed students and the misappropriation of $200,000 that led to the criminal conviction of a charter operator.
The relationship between the inspector general and L.A. Unified leaders has at times been understandably tense; later legislation unfortunately weakened the investigator’s authority. Still, it’s to L.A. Unified’s credit that the district is backing legislation to extend the office for an additional 10 years. The need is ongoing: The current inspector general is now examining the district’s troubling decision to purchase hundreds of thousands of iPads without first resolving major concerns.