DPS spending on consultants soared under Bobb

A review of Detroit Public Schools finances for the last year shows that Emergency Manager Robert Bobb spent $1.6 million on travel and gave raises to consultants even as wages for teachers and other employees were cut.

The Detroit Free Press reviewed the system’s public expenditure reports:

During the six months that ended March 3, 14 consultants hired to replace central office administrators in the curriculum, research and finance departments were paid more than $1.02 million, in some cases making twice what the prior administrator who held the position was paid.
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DPS also spent more than $1.6 million on American Express travel-related purchase expenses from March 3, 2010, to March 3, 2011.

The travel costs exceed the $1.5 million DPS spent on a combination of travel, hotels, conferences and catering in 2007, the most recent year for which information is available.

The review shows that Bobb hired heavily from firms he’d worked with on previous jobs as a former city manager in Washington D.C., president of the DC school board and as a real estate consultant.

Cobb, Bazilio & Associates, a firm based in Washington, D.C., was contracted in 2009 as a finance consultant at a rate of $104 per hour, plus lodging and travel costs. From March 2010 to September 2010, two payments to the company totaling $238,542 were approved.

The firm and its principals — Jeffrey Thompson, Michael Cobb and Ralph Bazilio — each donated $500 to Bobb’s 2006 campaign for Washington, D.C., school board president, campaign finance reports show.

At the beginning of his tenure Bobb forecast that the school system would have a $17 million surplus by 2010, the system now has a $327 million deficit.