Former Harambee Finance Chief Convicted

Yesterday, the former chief financial officer of the Harambee choice school was convicted of embezzling up to three-quarters of a million dollars of taxpayer money:

Cleveland Lee, 55, was found guilty of two counts of theft, 10 counts of forgery and three counts of filing false income tax returns, party to a crime, after a four-day jury trial that began Monday. [. . .]

The charges came after a two-year investigation of Lee's work at the school by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office. Lee left the school in 2002 and was arrested in January in Houston.

According to the criminal complaint, between 1998 and 2002, Lee diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars into two accounts, labeled hot lunch and day care, and then wrote checks from those accounts to himself, to businesses he controlled or to others - including a contractor who did remodeling on Lee's house.

In February, Lee pleaded not guilty after a judge ruled he should stand trial.

This is the sort of thing that may very well be less likely under the new permanent rules that increase the level of oversight DPI has over the financial dealings of these schools. But this case also points out one clear difference between the Milwaukee Public Schools and the often murky finances of voucher schools. There are many layers of oversight for every school's budget; in fact, I just went through the audit process for a program I oversee. And believe me, they are thorough. While I know some people probably hope that they can enrich themselves as a public school employee--and I have seen some questionable things--there is very little actual fraud going on.

Harambee school itself has been troubled of late, even without this guy. I noted it a few months back. That is a shame, since a decade ago it was a model for what a non-secular private community school could be.