Maine Ed Department tried to rip-off the Federal government (Portland: transfer, school districts)

[Submariner]

Maine fined for false data - Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/05/22/maine_fined_for_false_data?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Maine+news - broken link)

The U.S. Justice Department says Maine's Education Department has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges that it submitted false information to receive federal funds under the Migrant Education Program.

The state Education Department, Portland Public Schools, Maine Administrative School District 14 and the Maine Family Resource Center [a nonprofit which services migrant children] falsely represented the number of eligible migratory children living in Maine in fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Apparantly they fraudulently claimed more migrant children and had recieved more money then they should have gotten.

I would assume that the money has already been spent, so will this effect taxes?

And if it is only being reported in Boston, does that mean that nobody here will be charged with a crime?

[Maine Writer]

And if it is only being reported in Boston,

??? Why would you think that?

does that mean that nobody here will be charged with a crime?

The person ultimately responsible has not been charged (yet?).

[juststoppinby]

5/23/09
Education case settled for $1.5M

By Jen Lynds
BDN Staff

Bangor Daily News May 23, 2009

[Submariner]

Ooops, thank you for correcting me, I had not seen that.

[maine4.us]

Having migrant students is a real pain. The reason is because they are migrants, and they come and go at will. By the definition, is a student has moved in 36 months from one school district to another in order for a parent to obtain seasonal work, they are a migrant student. This information is based on information furnished by the parent. Since much migrant labor is "under the table" accurate information is most always not available from a parent. Since Maine has so many school districts, it is entirely possible that a student would classified as migrant if they moved 10 miles, and transferred to a different district while their parents still work at the same job location. Here in Florida, we have real issues in determining migrant students. Our growing season is year round, therefore we have many students who are the children of migrant workers, but who are not classified as migrant children, because they never leave the same school district (county). I can see where an honest mistake could be made. What makes it so bad is the current financial state of the state.