SC inspector general to investigate Columbia school district’s construction of childcare center

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina inspector general is investigating how a fiscally-troubled Columbia-area school district is paying for a childcare center and why construction started without the necessary approvals.

The request came Monday from state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, who asked the inspector general to examine Richland One and everything related to the Vince Ford Early Childhood Learning Center, “including its financing, procurement, and construction,” according to a letter obtained by the SC Daily Gazette.

In the letter, Weaver recognized her request “requires credible evidence of potential malfeasance.” She believes Richland One’s actions meet that high bar, she wrote.

Inspector General Brian Lamkin confirmed Weaver’s request saying it “met the threshold to take a look at.”

Richland One, in a statement, said it welcomed any inquiry from the Inspector General’s Office, adding that the school district “continues to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

Building without a permit

The 22,000-student district, which covers the center of the state’s capital city, broke ground on the $30 million center in February 2023, despite not having a building permit, according to the state education agency.

The groundbreaking came after months of infighting between school board members over whether the district actually had enough money to pay for the project. Richland One originally planned for the center to serve about 300 students between six weeks and 5 years old.

The district paused work on the center last Friday, Jan. 19, after receiving a letter from Richland County Administrator Leonardo Brown issuing a stop work order.

Building permits for traditional schools are the purview of the state Department of Education.

But the center did not qualify as a “public education building” because it’s not a K-12 school, according to a notice from the education agency’s Office of School Facilities dated Dec. 15, 2023.

With that determination, the construction project fell back into the jurisdiction of Richland County. But the district never applied to the county for a permit, even as construction continued.

In response, Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said he planned to ask the district’s governing board Tuesday to adjust plans for the center. Instead of a center for children starting at six weeks, he suggests changing the purpose to serve children from 3 years old to second grade to fit the description of school-age children, starting with preschool. Additional details about his proposal were not provided ahead of his public presentation.

In her letter to the inspector general, Weaver called the changes “insufficient.”

‘A full and public accounting’

Weaver’s investigation request came at the urging of Rep. Heather Bauer, whose district covers a large portion of Richland One.

In a letter Friday to Weaver, the Columbia Democrat raised questions about what pot of taxpayer money the district is using to pay for the center and how the district’s able to proceed with construction “absent legal authorization to do so.”

“A full and public accounting of the funding source(s) … is owed to the taxpayers of Richland County and the state of South Carolina and must be made before any additional precious dollars are spent,” Bauer wrote.

In a statement, the agency said Weaver agreed.

“Clarity must be brought to both the financial and construction questions raised,” the statement read.

Given her agency’s role in issuing school building permits, it shouldn’t be the one investigating, it continued.

The inspector general’s office is an impartial third party “best positioned to help us quickly bring sunshine and transparency to these issues,” the statement read.

Bauer told the SC Daily Gazette that the center is the single issue she receives the most calls about from voters in her district. It’s important that state regulators are diligent in their review given past examples of “poor management in the district at all levels,” she said.

In December 2022, then-state Superintendent Molly Spearman issued a fiscal warning to Richland One following an audit of purchases made with special, district-issued debit cards, known as procurement cards. Such a warning is the first of several steps toward a state takeover of a district’s finances.

Two months earlier, a state grand jury indicted a former procurement officer for allegedly embezzling district funds. Accusations include that he rented a 2020 GMC Yukon for personal use.

Bauer also referenced the reassignment of several Richland One teachers at the beginning of this school year that sparked outrage among parents.

In its statement, the district defended the need for the center, saying it has been working for more than a decade to increase access to early education as a proven way to prepare students for success.