Educational group: No trouble from state after sweeping audits
Saturday, September 3, 2011 1
GAZETTE FILE PHOTONancy Bailey, owner of Spruce Hill Java, a small drive-up coffee stand on Route 9, Hadley, center, observes Nick Siano, of Palmer, a student from the former Hampshire Educational Collaborative, now the Collaborative for Educational Services, in 2008. The collaborative says it has nothing to fear from a recent probe into such groups throughout the state.NORTHAMPTON - Leaders of the region's Collaborative for Educational Services say they are confident that the Northampton-based organization has not engaged in any of the questionable financial and management practices cited in a scathing report released earlier this week by state Auditor Suzanne Bump.
Based on an audit alleging that six educational collaboratives across the commonwealth misspent millions of taxpayer dollars intended for special education services for public school students, Bump is calling for dramatically improved oversight of the state's 30 collaboratives. The organizations allow member school districts to pool their resources to provide services to thousands of students statewide with special needs.
Lisa Minnick, a longtime Northampton School Committee member who chairs the regional collaborative's board of governors, said the local organization welcomes such oversight.
"The directors have worked for the past 18 years to make our collaborative one of the most reputable in the state," she said. "I don't see any chance that our collaborative would be in trouble."
Joan Schuman, the collaborative's executive director, said she has spoken at legislative hearings about the need for more careful review by the state of agencies like hers.
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GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Nancy Bailey, owner of Spruce Hill Java, a small drive-up coffee stand on Route 9, Hadley, center, observes Nick Siano, of Palmer, a student from the former Hampshire Educational Collaborative, now the Collaborative for Educational Services, in 2008. The collaborative says it has nothing to fear from a recent probe into such groups throughout the state.
Based on an audit alleging that six educational collaboratives across the commonwealth misspent millions of taxpayer dollars intended for special education services for public school students, Bump is calling for dramatically improved oversight of the state's 30 collaboratives. The organizations allow member school districts to pool their resources to provide services to thousands of students statewide with special needs.
Lisa Minnick, a longtime Northampton School Committee member who chairs the regional collaborative's board of governors, said the local organization welcomes such oversight.
"The directors have worked for the past 18 years to make our collaborative one of the most reputable in the state," she said. "I don't see any chance that our collaborative would be in trouble."
Joan Schuman, the collaborative's executive director, said she has spoken at legislative hearings about the need for more careful review by the state of agencies like hers.
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