Audit Cites Mismanagement

04:19 AM ET 11/18/99
By ANJETTA McQUEEN, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - A congressional critic of the Education Department says the department's 1998 accounts are in disarray, potentially wasting millions of taxpayer dollars meant for education programs. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said the department, which has a budget of more than $32 billion and manages billions more in student loans, is seven months late with a report for an annual congressional review of federal spending. The report from the department's inspector general could be released as early as today. Education Secretary Richard Riley characterized Hoekstra's charges as ``partisan attacks.''

``We welcome any legitimate review of our administrative procedures because we remain confident that on our watch the federal education investment is managed carefully and in full compliance with the law,'' Riley said in a statement Wednesday. The General Accounting Office, the auditing and investigative arm of Congress, reviews the books of more than 20 federal agencies.

A 1994 law directed the executive branch to begin producing annual financial statements by April 1 so that the GAO could audit those statements much like outside auditors review financial statements for companies.

Hoekstra told reporters Wednesday the department's inspector general promised the education spending audit would be given to Congress today.

He predicted the documents ``will tell us that they cannot audit their books.''

Education Department officials have said 1998 was an unusual year because the department switched to another accounting system at a time when officials also were required to prepare several new financial statements. Auditors ran out of time and needed to start on the 1999 books, they said.

Hoekstra has accused the department of mismanaging at least $600 million in unclaimed grant money and issuing duplicate checks to grant winners.

``The agency, like all other federal agencies, ought to be able to account for its books and give us ... and taxpayers the confidence that the money is going exactly where it should go,'' said Hoekstra, chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee. He said he would hold hearings on the matter as soon as December.

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