Legislative Auditor says the Minnesota Department of Education failed in oversight of Feeding Our Future

Report says Education Department officials failed to act upon warning signs even prior to the alleged fraud
The State Education Department is being called out by the Legislative Auditor for failures connected to the Feeding our Future scandal.
Photo credit (Getty Images / Kirkikis)

The State Education Department is being called out by the Legislative Auditor for failures connected to the Feeding our Future scandal.

The 120 page report released Thursday morning concludes that the department's actions and inactions not only prevented, but created opportunities for fraud.

Minnesota Legislative Auditor Judy Randall told the bipartisan Legislative Audit Commission that the MDE didn't do anything when fraud-related complaints started to roll in.

"We didn't see evidence of intentional looking the other way, ut what we did see evidence of was an agency that was not prepared to understand what they were seeing and then take action," says Randall.

The federal money was intended for pandemic time meal programs for children in low income families.

Special Reviews Director Katherine Theisen says that Education Department officials failed to act upon warning signs even prior to the alleged fraud and that once it was uncovered, they were ill-prepared to respond.

"We found that MDE’s inadequate oversight of Feeding Our Future created opportunities for fraud," says the report. "MDE failed to act on warning signs known to the department prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior to the start of the alleged fraud, did not effectively exercise its authority to hold Feeding Our Future accountable to program requirements, and was ill-prepared to respond to the issues it encountered with Feeding Our Future."

Federal regulations required MDE to monitor and enforce Feeding our Future's compliance with the program, which was to reimburse for meals and snacks served at child care centers, summer camps and adult day care centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We found MDE did not investigate some complaints about Feeding Our Future despite their frequency or seriousness," Theisen said Thursday. "And when MDE decided to investigate complaints about Feeding Our Future at sites, its investigations were inadequate."

Over 70 people have been charged with stealing the money for personal gain totaling a quarter billion dollars. Some have pled guilty, five were recently found guilty, and others await trial.

You can read the full report here.

The report comes just two days after another report by the Legislative Auditor saying millions of dollars in unverified payments were dispersed by the state's Frontline Worker Pay Program.

Featured Image Photo Credit: (Getty Images / Kirkikis)