RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Public Schools auditor is examining the district’s use of purchasing cards (p-cards), which are essentially credit cards issued to staff members that they can use to streamline small purchases.

Although auditor Doug Graeff noted that the program’s overall controls are effective and efficient, he also noted several weaknesses. Graeff presented his initial draft findings to the school board on Oct. 18 in an email, which CBS 6 obtained through a public records request.

According to data he provided, total annual purchasing card spending in the division increased from $636,000 in 2020, impacted by the pandemic and virtual school, to $2.7 million in 2024. More than half of all purchasing card spending was spent on education and virtual school. office supplies.

However, Graeff noted that some employees do not properly record their purchases to avoid going over budget or hiding unauthorized expenses. At times, he said transaction amounts were split into two or more different transactions to evade purchasing controls.

For example, the auditor found:

• $5,500 worth of food was billed as office supplies
• $5,000 in food was billed for staff development
• $2,200 worth of food had split receipts
• 250 chicken dinners were billed as office supplies
• Two shrimp dinners were charged as teaching supplies
• An employee used a shopping card to top up a personal Starbucks account

Graeff noted that although RPS recorded $193,000 in “meals and meetings” in its purchase card spending descriptions over the past five years, merchant category codes indicated that RPS spent $1.5 million dollars on food from various suppliers during the same period.
Anne Forrester, an RPS teacher and president of the Richmond Education Association, said it is critical to ensure all taxpayer dollars are spent properly, given that many teachers have to dip into their own pockets to fund the classroom necessities.

“We are often told by high-level administrators in central office, as well as politicians, that there simply isn’t enough money, and so seeing the money not being used responsibly in some of these cases with acquisition cards, it’s really disappointing,” Forrester said.

RPS spokeswoman Alyssa Schwenk said annual purchasing card spending represents less than 0.05 percent of the overall budget, and questionable purchases flagged by the auditor account for even less.

“As for the next steps on the part of the administration, we will follow the procedure, which is to wait until the Council has an opportunity to review the project, until the auditor has an opportunity to finalize his report, and we will follow the guidance and recommendations of the Board to ensure that we have robust, clear and rigorous procedures,” Schwenk said.

The auditor noted that current acquisition card program staffing is inadequate to effectively manage transactions. Schwenk said an employee on the procurement team is responsible for managing the purchasing card program.

Some of Graeff’s other initial findings included:

• Need to update procedures and acquisition card manual
• Purchasing card violation process is too lenient
• Individual schools and departments have been issued multiple cards, increasing the risk of fraud or theft.
• Travel costs are difficult to track

“I would support any kind of transparency and more organized, streamlined processes with more oversight,” Forrester said.

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