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A married couple who owned four daycare providers in Queens swindled the Department of Education out of more than $35,000 over the last two school years by billing for students who never attended the programs, a city investigation has found.

The couple, Saied and Nareesa Mohammed, allegedly took advantage of 12 students whose parents originally signed them up to receive services from a city-funded Universal Pre-K program that operated out of the “Nareesa’s Day Care” and “Beanstalk” centers.

The parents quickly withdrew from the programs, but the Mohammeds allegedly continued to keep their children’s names on the books at the school by submitting false attendance forms and forging parent signatures at the end of the year. The fraud involved at least 12 students and the couple received about $3,500 per pupil from the education department, according to a report released today by the Office of the Special Investigator.

The fraud spanned from 2009 to June 2011, when a manager in the Early Childhood Development office first lodged a complaint with the Special Commissioner’s office. It began on a smaller scale in 2009, with just two students, but it expanded the next year and eventually raised a red flag. (more…)

I reported in February that the degree to which the Department of Education’s bureaucracy is growing depends on which bureaucracy you’re talking about: the central brain at Tweed Courthouse has gained members, but the nervous system known as “the field,” whose suited desk-sitters are located throughout the five boroughs, is shrinking in size.

The degree of growth also depends on the kind of bureaucrat, and the way the kinds shake out — which have been kept and which have not — sheds some light on the Bloomberg administration’s priorities. (Recall that all departments inside the DOE were asked to write plans for budget cuts, but not all had to enact them.)

While those specializing in areas such as teaching and learning, food and nutrition, family engagement, and operations are losing ground, officials who work in accountability, budget, and transportation matters proliferate, according to new, more detailed numbers the department (finally) disclosed to me. (more…)