CMS INVESTIGATION: State auditor reassigns resources for Charlotte schools investigation

CHARLOTTE — The state auditor’s office is reassigning resources to prioritize its investigation into Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Channel 9 learned on Friday.

State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office is one of several agencies that are investigating alleged financial issues in CMS. Boliek was hesitant to release any timelines but says his office is working as fast as it can to uncover the facts.

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Boliek has now made four visits to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as he and a handful of other agencies investigate financial irregularities in the district.

Friday in Stanly County, Boliek gave Channel 9 an update on his investigation.

“I went through the finance department and the budget department, shook every hand of every person that was in the building to say, ‘Look, I’m here as the state auditor. Our job is to do what we can and do our part to help calm this chaos,’” Boliek said.

On Wednesday, he met with Mecklenburg County leaders to get them up to speed. Former Superintendent Crystal Hill previously warned money provided by Mecklenburg County to CMS was used in the transaction being probed by the SBI.

“It’s a reputational risk to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to have a school system that appears to be in disarray,” Boliek said.

The school district has already provided his office with data.

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Boliek says his team has its foot on the gas to get an interim report out. He’s deployed resources from other ongoing projects to instead focus on CMS.

“I’m working as quickly as we can, but we got to be accurate, and we’ve got to be impactful, and we’ve got to give results that are actually going to move the needle,” Boliek said.

While the CMS investigation continues, Boliek says his office is prepared to release its first findings from its audit of the Bank of America Stadium Renovation project.

That should happen next week. He says there has been fantastic cooperation from Tepper Sports.