Gronstal expects subpeona power needed in IASB probe

JOHNSTON – A key legislative leader Friday said he expects a legislative oversight panel will be given subpoena power to probe alleged misuse of taxpayer money by an Iowa school board association engaged in what he called “empire building.”

“This thing's a real mess and we're going to get to the bottom of it,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, during the taping of Iowa Public Television's “Iowa Press” show.

“I haven't seen anything like this since CIETC,” Gronstal said in assessing the unfolding allegations surrounding the Iowa Association of School Boards, which – pending the outcome of an audit -- Thursday placed an executive on paid administrative leave who allegedly gave herself a $157,000 raise. “I just think what's happened is outrageous and I think people are sick and tired of it.”

The Legislature's Oversight Committee is slated to question IASB officials Monday about allegations of inflated salaries, conflicts of interest, misuse of taxpayer money and dues from public school districts that belong to the umbrella association intended to do policy and lobby work n education issues.

Gronstal said the oversight panel can request – and would receive – subpoena power from the Legislative Council if officials aren't forthcoming with information. He also said the inquiry could expand beyond the school board association to other private, nonprofit associations funded with taxpayer money or that receive taxpayer-funded grants.

“We thought this organization was primarily to help to do education for board members and provide a place for people to share ideas,” Gronstal said. “It appears that they had a number of money making schemes designed to try and generate for-profit activities and I think a lot of legislators are very concerned about it.

“That's absolutely unbelievable that that's going on and that that's what's happened with this organization,” he added. “It appears to me that the school board association had four or five, who knows, profit-making entities that were all about building some sort of financial empire.”

Following two days of closed-door meetings, the IASB's board of directors announced that executive director Maxine Kilcrease had been placed on paid administrative leave pending the completion of a forensic audit that should be done in May.

Preliminary findings indicated Kilcrease, who was hired last summer, raised her salary from $210,000 to $367,000 in September without the board's knowledge or consent, board legal counsel Nolden Gentry told KCCI-TV. She also raised the salaries of other employees without the board's approval, and there were other allegations of mismanagement, he said.

According to a recent report in the Des Moines Sunday Register, Kilcrease said she returned $59,000 in pay earlier this week after questions arose about her compensation. A former IASB chief financial officer was alleged to have used his association credit card to buy airline tickets for a vacation to Bora Bora, according to the newspaper report, and there were concerns that some IASB affiliates have lost millions of dollars in recent years.

“The executive director literally said I thought I was getting paid too much money, I asked them to lower it. What kind of an executive director can't get their own pay lowered?” Gronstal said. “I mean, something isn't right in this place and I think in the end we'll have to have subpoena power to get the answers to it.”

Gronstal expressed dismay that the head of a privately run association with no disclosure or open records requirement was making “twice what the governor of Iowa is paid” and that dues from 361 school districts were being paid to the association at a time when teachers are at risk of losing their jobs due to tight budgets.

The Senate leader said it would be appropriate for the state auditor's office to look into the situation and he held out the possibility that the matter could be referred to the Iowa attorney general's office depending on what information is uncovered in coming months.

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