Federal Complaint Alleges Fund Misappropriation in Birmingham Schools
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Birmingham City Schools parent and president of the local chapter of the
American Federation of Teachers has filed a complaint against the school
system with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General.
Submitted by fax Friday, Richard Franklin’s complaint alleges four examples of
misappropriation of federal Title One money, which is meant for schools with at
least 40 percent of their student populations defined as low-income by the U.S.
Census. It is against federal law to spend any Title One money on non-Title-One
schools, which is allegedly what happened through several contracts — including for
Kaplan ACT exam prep courses — during fiscal 2014.
The complaint also says, “Of special note is the fact that Birmingham City Schools came
under state takeover in June of 2012. Our state Superintendent, Dr. [Tommy] Bice
should have been overseeing these board actions. It’s not enough that we have had
the resignation of a few individuals [who] may have been involved. We must hold
everyone accountable in order to move forward and to force transparency upon
both the local and state administrations.”
Local and state education officials have maintained there was no wrongdoing. A BCS spokesperson wrote late Tuesday evening, “We are aware of this complaint; however, we consider this to be a closed matter. The services provided to students from non-Title 1 schools were paid for through allowable sources of funding. Title I funds were not utilized to cover those services.”
Still, Birmingham City Schools staff involved in the matter have resigned, and BCS superintendent Craig
Witherspoon has announced his own resignation, effective at the end of
the year. After Franklin and others raised concerns about the alleged misappropriation, the local school board also
changed the funding source for some of the programs in question.
Through his tumultuous tenure, Witherspoon has had strong support from
Birmingham’s business community, but quite the opposite from Franklin’s AFT and
some rank-and-file employees, many of whom were let go as the system
trimmed costs partly by cutting positions to boost cash reserves to the legally
required one-month’s operating expenses.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
