A Washington state audit has found that the Seattle school district paid $280,000 for services it didn’t receive and $1.5 million for services that did not benefit the district or that could have been done by district employees.
Staff members who worked with the district’s small-business program told the auditor that work was awarded to some vendors to win support from prominent members of the community.
The findings have been turned over to King County prosecutors.
The report also questioned $1.5 million in payments to outside organizations and individuals for services that included $75,000 in training materials copied from other sources and a $25,000 database that didn’t work.