Audit finds credit card charges for DVD rentals, restuarants, stores

DES MOINES – The former chief financial official for the Iowa Association of School Boards racked up charges on the organization's credit card for Redbox DVD rentals and at restaurants and stores, an audit released Wednesday alleges.

Auditors with the accounting firm Brooks Lodden presented their findings to the IASB board Wednesday.

The auditors identified more than $1,200 in unsubstantiated expenses that have not been reimbursed by former acting CFO Kevin Schick.

Charges include spending at Kohl's, T.J.Maxx, Amazon.com, Marshalls and Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as several restaurants.

Schick, who had not seen the report Wednesday, said the charges have been repaid and said the association owes him thousands of dollars in wages.

He referred further questions to his attorney.

Auditors recommended that the IASB board should require Schick to provide documentation for all expenses charged to the credit card. Any receipts which cannot be substantiated as business expenses should be reimbursed, the auditors' report said.

The IASB previously revealed that Schick had used an IASB credit card to pay for a personal vacation in Bora Bora. Schick has contended that the credit card was in his name, not the organization's. Schick has reimbursed the IASB for trip expenses

IASB board member Roger Shaffer said if Schick has taken money from the organization, he needs to be prosecuted for it.

“We need to set an example that all the employees know, that if you do something wrong and take from the organization, you're going to be held accountable for it,” he said. Shaffer is board president of the Sumner school district.

The audit said it appears Schick made unauthorized transfers in the amount of $500,000 from the Iowa School Employee Benefit Association account to the IASB and LGS, another IASB entity. Legal research showed this transfer would not be permissible under Iowa law.

Auditors said it also appeared Schick made an unauthorized transfer of $10,000 from the Iowa Council of School Board Attorneys to LGS.

Schick said he had no knowledge of the transfers and believes they occurred before he was at IASB.

While many of the revelations in the auditor's report were not new to the IASB board of the directors, some of the details had not been discussed during the hearings on the matter in the Iowa Legislature's oversight committee.

State lawmakers, concerned with spending and salary increases at the IASB, approved a new requirement making the IASB subject to the state's open records and open meetings laws.

Wednesday's meeting was open to the public, unlike previous meetings of the IASB board.