LAUSD's $45 Million Mistake

The Los Angeles Unified School District took another budget hit Thursday when California's controller said it must return $45 million it never should have claimed from the state. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Over four years, the district filed claims for and received $46.6 million in state money under the Pupil Promotion and Retention Program.

But state Controller John Chiang said an audit showed that $45.4 million of the claims was unjustified, and that the money must be returned.

"In essence, they got an interest-free loan from the taxpayers of California," Chiang said in an interview. "Obviously they need to clean up their procedures so they don't jeopardize the operations or their responsibility to provide kids with a world-class education.