BALTIMORE – The local Fox television station in Baltimore is calling out the school district after its CEO allegedly lied about the amount of stimulus money officials misspent on luxuries for personal use.


FOX45 reportedly questioned former Baltimore City school CEO Andres Alonso last year about how stimulus money was spent in the district after learning some of the money was frittered away on non-important items.

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Alonso was defensive about the spending, criticized the news station, and attempted to downplay the amount of money that was misspent. This week, FOX45 reports that records from the Maryland Department of Education reveals the problem was much worse than Alonso let on, with more than $480,000 in tax money wasted on personal items including “expensive meals, dinner cruises, travel, entertainment, awards, giveaways – even utilities.”

“First of all, these are school level expenses,” Alonso told FOX45 last year when the televisions station inquired about the misspent funds. “We’re talking about parent events at the school. We’ve been working to bring parents in and sometimes they make mistakes but if someone came to me and said you’ll have a $15 million audit and they’ll question $25,000, I’ll take it any day of the week.”

“We’re talking about $25,000,” Alonso said, according to Fox. “Where is your accountability to tell the truth?”

Alonso’s comments couldn’t have been more ironic.

Information from the Maryland Department of Education “shows that Baltimore City schools misspent almost 20 times that amount – more than $480,000,” the news station reports.

The money, which was wasted over a 12-month period, went to overpriced meals, dinner cruises and tickets to the theater. In a letter from the federal government demanding repayment of the funds, federal officials place part of the blame for the problem on the Maryland Department of Education for failing to oversee the spending.

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A spokesman for the state told FOX45 Maryland has updated its procedures for spending federal dollars. Schools are now required to provide detailed documents on how the money is spent, according to the television station.

The state requested documents to support the Baltimore district’s spending, but school officials couldn’t produce the justifying documents.

The school district reportedly repaid the misused federal stimulus money last month.

The misspent federal funds, however, was only one many of Alonso’s school money problems.

“From 2009 to 2012, The Baltimore City Public Schools system paid $14 million in overtime, primarily to police officers and temporary employees. Alonso’s driver Ralph Askins was the top earner, earning $40 per hour and amassing $216,000 in overtime from 2008 to 2010. Employees at the headquarters spent $500,000 with no oversight and the head of the IT department paid $250,000 to renovate his suite,” according to the blog NYC Public School Parents.

“A 2012 audit revealed that the district had failed to collect millions of dollars in debt, had overpaid dozens of employees in salaries and benefits, and had paid $2.8 million in overtime without substantiating hours.”

Alonso resigned as CEO of Baltimore schools in June 2013, according to a district press release.