An employee at North Carolina’s largest voucher-receiving school was charged with the theft of $400,000 in taxpayer money.
He discovered how to make money in education: Steal it.
Lindsay Wagner writes:
“The athletic director of a private religious school that has received the most publicly-funded school vouchers in the state of North Carolina was arrested this week on charges of embezzling from the school nearly $400,000 in public tax dollars, the Fayetteville Observer reports.
“Heath Curtis Vandevender is charged with embezzling $388,422 between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2015, from Truth Outreach Center Inc., located in Fayetteville. Trinity Christian School, which has received nearly $1 million in publicly-funded school vouchers since 2014, is under the Truth Outreach Center’s umbrella, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
“The funds that Vandevender is accused of embezzling over a seven year period are allegedly taken from employee withholding tax money that was to go to the N.C. Department of Revenue.
“Vandevender “aided and abetted the corporation to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use $388,422.68 in North Carolina Withholding Tax,” according to the Department of Revenue’s press release.
“It’s unknown whether or not federal tax funds that the organization is supposed to withhold from employee paychecks and submit to the federal government were also misappropriated.”
Wagner attempted to get a copy of the school’s financial audits but discovered that the law requires audits but does not require that audits be made public.
Sweet deal. But not for taxpayers.
Hope Betsy DeVos goes to visit Trinity Christian to show the nation how vouchers are working out.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“The funds that Vandevender is accused of embezzling over a seven year period are allegedly taken from employee withholding tax money that was to go to the N.C. Department of Revenue.”
Ugh. That’s really bad. One wonders why it took NC so long to uncover it. Every employer has to report that and it’s actual remitted funds unless they were just moving money around and covering that hole with not paying something else.
“”The athletic director of a private religious school that has received the most publicly-funded school vouchers in the state of North Carolina was arrested this week on charges of embezzling from the school nearly $400,000 in public tax dollars, the Fayetteville Observer reports.
“Heath Curtis Vandevender is charged with embezzling $388,422 between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2015, from Truth Outreach Center Inc., located in Fayetteville. Trinity Christian School, which has received nearly $1 million in publicly-funded school vouchers since 2014, is under the Truth Outreach Center’s umbrella, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
“The funds that Vandevender is accused of embezzling over a seven year period are allegedly taken from employee withholding tax money that was to go to the N.C. Department of Revenue.
“Vandevender “aided and abetted the corporation to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use $388,422.68 in North Carolina Withholding Tax,” according to the Department of Revenue’s press release”
Confused. Did he embezzle the money for his private use, or was if done on behalf of the corporation? There IS a difference. If done for private use, the corporation is just as much a victim. If it was to aid and abetting the corporation, the corporation is just as much an embezzler.
Apart from that, if the act goes all the way to 2008, than the receiving of public money since 2014 has little or no bearing on the case other than obvious bias.
What is the bias?
If ed reformers want to know why I don’t believe they are “agnostics” they should read their own interviews.
This is DeVos talking about her goals:
On changes in schools during her tenure: “I expect there will be more public charter schools. I expect there will be more private schools. I expect there will be more virtual schools. I expect there will be more schools of any kind that haven’t even been invented yet.”
She offers nothing to kids in public schools. They are literally not even part of the conversation. If this is the official policy of the US Department of Education I can live with that reality- I think it’s ludicrous but I can live with it- but it’s really too much to ask public school parents to cheer this on when they are completely omitted.
You can’t say you’re agnostics and offer nothing of value to public schools. That’s not “agnostic”. That’s an agenda that excludes the vast majority of schools in the country.
DeVos is so far into this echo chamber it doesn’t even occur to her that she SHOULD offer something of value to public schools. The assumption seems to be because they’re public they have to go along so will take any crumbs she’s got left over. I don’t accept this. It devalues our schools.
https://www.axios.com/what-betsy-devos-wishes-she-said-at-her-confirmation-hearing-2266444767.html
Another one:
https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2017/02/16/interview-of-secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-n2286164
Weird how the “agnostics” of ed reform consistently identify public schools as the problem and charter and private schools as the solution.
Please. They’re not agnostics. It is blatantly obvious to anyone outside the echo chamber.
Public schools shouldn’t bother to attempt to persuade the US Department of Education that they’re valuable. The goal here is to replace them. You’re not obligated to assist federal employees while they work to eradicate your school.
It’s typical of political dissemblers.
If they were honest and actually said they wanted to reduce grandma’s Social Security benefits or turn them over to Wall Street, people might get upset. So, instead, we get decades of propaganda about how Social Security is “broke” (when it it is fact the most solvent part of the government) and we must therefore “reform” it.
Ah, there’s that word “reform” again, so familiar to teachers, who likewise have been subjected to decades of propaganda that public education is “failing” and must be “reformed.”
Same with welfare “reform” under Bill Clinton.
For Republicans and their Democratic shadow, the problem is not that these programs are failing; the problem is that, despite their limitations and shortcomings, they work all too well.
Next time you hear a politician or public figure use the word “reform,” put your wallet or purse in a safe place, and bar the door.
And why aren’t the stealers in jail?
Most likely because they just recently found out… And there IS such a thing as a judicial process that has to take place… You know, the “innocent until proven guilty stuff…