SEATTLE — Seattle Public Schools announced new fallout from last year's financial scandal Monday.
The district said $1.3 million was misspent, unaccounted for and some of it may have been stolen.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office is going over the new audit report.
Both halves of the financial scandal trace back to one man who is already facing charges that stem from last year’s revelations.
State auditors found questionable payments for work done all over the district.
For example, the district paid a small private business $65 an hour for cleaning services. The prevailing wage for those services is $18 an hour.
Another business mentioned in the report, Seattle DVR, was paid $2,500 for high resolution infrared security cameras for Cleveland High School. The report said the cameras were never installed.
The district also paid more than $14,000 for video surveillance cable, 1,300 percent more than the auditor estimated it should cost.
School board finance chairwoman Sherry Carr noted this is the second school district program connected to former manager Silas Potter.
Potter was charged with theft after an earlier audit revealed huge discrepancies.
The latest audit found $1.3 million more in losses connected to Potter. The earlier audit found 1.7 million – a total of $3 million lost or misspent.
To put the latest $1.3 million loss in perspective, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Essex Porter asked Carr what that money could do in the classroom.
“(It’s the) equivalent of an elementary school’s worth of teachers for a year,” said Carr.
The district said no one involved in the scandal works for the district any longer and that new, stricter financial controls are in place.
The audit comes as the district prepares for crucial levy votes at the beginning of next year, but parents Porter talked to said they don’t want to penalize the children for the failings of adults.