State probe of school projects in Liberty needed for closure

The $1.2 million in personnel cuts approved last week by the Liberty Board of Education were not a surprise, considering that the school system has been in fiscal emergency for eight months and its books are in such disarray that auditing them has become a major challenge for the state.

But there’s another issue, revealed in an in-depth, front-page story in last Sunday’s Vindicator about the system’s trials and tribulations, which we believe warrants an investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Attorney General Mike DeWine visited the Mahoning Valley last week. He met with Vindicator writers and talked about the various probes being conducted by his staff. He seems serious about his role as the watchdog of government, which is why we believe his office should get involved in the Liberty school situation.

At issue is the 2009 conversion schools projects — LEARN and LEAD — that were the brainchild of Atty. Adam C. Miller of Columbus. Miller made a presentation to Superintendent Mark Lucas and then Treasurer Tracey Obermiyer on Sept. 8, 2008, and the district subsequently retained Miller to set up the conversion programs. He and Obermiyer led the board to believe that LEARN and LEAD would be a financial boon because the district would double its per-student state foundation allocation through the 260 students attending the conversion schools.

There was a figure of $1 million in additional revenue that became part of the sales pitch.

Instead, as The Vindicator’s story by reporter Robert Guttersohn noted, there was no financial windfall.

Last year, as the district’s fiscal crisis worsened, taxpayers began asking questions about the conversion programs. Most members of the school board chose to dodge the inquiries, and when there was talk of conducting an investigation, a majority of the board saw it as a distraction to the progress the district was making.

Ex-treasurer’s behavior

The crisis was exacerbated by the behavior of Treasurer Obermiyer, who resigned April 29, after questions were raised about her job performance. On Feb. 7, 2011, state Auditor David Yost determined that the district’s financial records could not be audited. The state also threatened legal action because it had been unable to obtain bank reconciliations from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010 and bank statements for July and August 2010.

The district’s lawyer, John Britton of Cleveland, told the board there was no reason to believe the treasurer was engaged in any criminal misconduct and there was no criminal investigation ongoing.

But we were skeptical, given that the Obermiyer failed to attend a meeting of the board of education in April after she was told that the purpose was to discuss letters from the state highlighting the accounting problems.

Our skepticism has now been heightened by the revelation in last Sunday’s story that the former treasurer was hired as a business consultant by LEARN and LEAD — a week after she resigned from the Liberty School District.

Given that the system is still in deep financial trouble, every issue that may have contributed to the crisis must be fully investigated.