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The U.S. Department of Education asks the state for Portland's records.

By KELLEY BOUCHARD Staff Writer September 7, 2007

U.S. education officials are asking for information about Portland's recent school budget problems, in response to a state lawmaker's questions about whether federal grants have been spent properly.

The U.S. Department of Education asked Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron to provide information on any grants related to an estimated $1.7 million deficit in the $82 million Portland school budget for the year that ended on June 30.

Federal officials were responding to a request from state Rep. John McDonough, R-Scarborough.

McDonough, a former Portland city councilor, mayor and state representative, said he has no information that Portland school officials have misspent federal grants.

"As a state representative, I have a responsibility to ... make sure the people's money has been spent responsibly," McDonough said, though city and school officials said they have seen no evidence that grants have been misused.

Gendron, who received the request from federal officials on Thursday, declined to comment until she has gathered the information.

Once Gendron responds to federal officials, they will determine whether an investigation is warranted, said Zollie Stevenson Jr., acting director of student achievement and school accountability programs for the U.S. Department of Education.

"We are very serious in our efforts to ensure that federal education funds are expended in compliance with all applicable statutory and regulatory provisions," Stevenson said in a letter to McDonough.

Barbara Dee, Portland's director of student support services, said Portland schools receive about $7 million in federal grants each year, and their use is monitored closely and audited regularly by state and federal officials.

Ellen Sanborn, Portland's city budget director, has been reviewing School Department expenditures and revenue since School Finance Director Richard Paulson resigned on July 30. Superintendent Mary Jo O'Connor resigned on Aug. 29, effective Dec. 28.

Sanborn said she saw no evidence that grants were being misspent.

House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, said it's unusual for a legislator to call for an investigation in another district.

Cummings said he was unaware of any other member of the Portland legislative delegation being contacted by McDonough to support his effort. He described McDonough's call for an investigation as a "fair request."

However, Cummings noted, a recent investigator's report, commissioned by the Portland School Committee and released on Wednesday, concluded that grants had no bearing on the $1.7 million deficit.

In the report, the investigator, Bryan Dench, a lawyer with Skelton Taintor & Abbott in Auburn, described grants as "contractual arrangements that require the recipient to conform with strict standards for the use of the grant and reporting to the granting source."

McDonough has lived in Scarborough for five years and was elected to a House seat representing the town last November. He is a commercial lobsterman and a retired New England Telephone Co. manager.

McDonough was elected to the Portland City Council in 1992 and served two, three-year terms. He then served two terms as a state representative for Portland, before losing the Democratic primary in June 2002 to challenger Edward Suslovic.

After the primary, McDonough switched to the Republican Party and ran against Suslovic again, only to lose the November 2002 election.

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com