Auditor's handling of whistleblower's claims is criticized
Source: Associated Press
Julie Carr Smyth, Associated Press
Updated 3:47 pm, Tuesday, April 24, 2018
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Auditor Dave Yost's opponent in the state attorney general's race said Tuesday that Yost should immediately have referred to authorities a whistleblower's allegations that the state's then-largest online charter school intentionally inflated attendance figures.
The Republican Yost's office called Democrat Steven Dettelbach's call for Yost to recuse himself from reviewing the former Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow a "political stunt." It said the former ECOT employee's claims of misconduct by the school were swiftly investigated — though results of that inquiry have not yet been released.
The Associated Press reported Monday that the individual first shared claims of misconduct at the now-shuttered e-school with the Ohio Department of Education in August.
"When a credible whistleblower comes forward with inside information that there was intentional fraud that is going on, you do not sit on that for a year," said Dettelbach, a former U.S. Attorney in Cleveland. "You do not put it into some process where it marinates as part of a routine audit; it's not something that comes out in a report months and months later. You pick up the phone immediately, and you refer it to an independent criminal investigation agency."
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Auditor-s-handling-of-whistleblower-s-claims-is-12860380.php
