Denver Public Schools will pay $2.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the school district lied about service hours for two years to collect grant money from AmeriCorps, a national education service program.

The school district falsely reported that a significant portion of the district’s members had performed the necessary service hours to qualify for an AmeriCorps education award in 2015 and 2016, when they had not, the U.S. District Attorney Office, District of Colorado said in a news release Tuesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged that six DPS programs were not eligible for $557,200 they received in direct funding from AmeriCorps, and that AmeriCorps granted the district $858,674 in education awards based on its numerous false certifications for those six programs.

To be eligible for an education award, members must complete a specified number of service hours, among other requirements. The school district is responsible for verifying and certifying those hours to AmeriCorps, which issues the money.

“Denver Public Schools used millions of federal dollars from AmeriCorps in ways that violated the basic rules of the AmeriCorps program,” Matthew Kirsch, attorney for the United States, said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s misuse of those funds interfered with AmeriCorps’ core mission — to give students more educational resources.”

According to the Department of Justice, DPS fired, or accepted resignations from, employees who had managed the grants and who falsified...

Read Full Story: https://coloradosun.com/2022/08/02/dps-settlement-americorps/