“This was such an abuse that it really drew my attention,’’ DeLeo said.
Sullivan’s report included accusations that Barranco used a credit card issued by the center to rack up $50,000 in personal expenses, such as improvements to vacation homes in New Hampshire and Florida, tickets to the Kentucky Derby, luxury clothes, and Christmas presents for his daughter.
Yesterday, state Representative Alice H. Peisch, the House chairwoman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education, said that because of Sullivan’s findings, the committee is planning to hold hearings on the governance of educational collaboratives, probably in September, after state Auditor Suzanne M. Bump completes a review of the Merrimack collaborative and two additional collaboratives.
“The questions raised by the inspector general are very troubling,’’ Peisch, a Wellesley Democrat, said in a Globe interview last night.
“His findings, along with earlier audits of other collaboratives,’’ Peisch said, “raise questions about whether there are systemic problems, as opposed to there being a single bad apple.’’
An education collaborative is a consortium of local public school districts that pool resources to lower the cost of providing educational services, particularly those dedicated to special-needs students. State officials have said there are 30 such collaboratives in the state.
In the case of the Merrimack collaborative, Sullivan said that Barranco seized control of $11.5 million in taxpayer money by transferring the funds from the collaborative to the center through two illegal 2006 agreements. Barranco was executive director of the center until last month, when he took an unpaid leave of absence after Sullivan released his findings. He has declined numerous Globe requests for an interview.
The Globe has reported that Sullivan’s findings are being reviewed by criminal and civil prosecutors working for Attorney General Martha Coakley. In addition, state Treasurer Steven Grossman is investigating accusations by the inspector general that Barranco and others working for the collaborative and the center used deception to enhance their state pensions.
Noah Bierman of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Rezendes can be reached at rezendes@globe.com.
