Hermandad Gave State Paperwork, Director Says

The head of an embattled Latino rights group said Thursday that his agency had turned in every scrap of documentation required to prove how it spent millions in adult education money, and vowed to defy a state order to pay back $4.3 million in federal funds.

Bert Corona, the leader of the Santa Ana- and Los Angeles-based Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, said that in fact, the state Department of Education owes Hermandad at least $350,000 in reimbursement for classes taught this year.

“We submitted all the required documents as spelled out in all the letters,” said Corona, who is appealing the request for repayment and is optimistic it will be overturned. “We’ve given them everything they wanted. We don’t owe any money.’

The state Department of Education earlier this week ordered Hermandad to repay the $4.3 million after questioning whether the funds were properly spent on English and citizenship classes for immigrants. State officials said Hermandad failed to provide necessary paperwork, including proof verifying that at least 150,000 students attended classes funded by the education department.

Hermandad’s funding for the current fiscal year was also cut for similar reasons, according to Deputy Supt. Henry Der, who said only an estimated 200 of 70,000 required student attendance files had been turned over.

“We think that’s kind of short,” Der said.

Responded Corona: “How can he say that? We turned in just what they wanted us to turn in.”

Corona said that he drove to San Diego earlier this week to drop off all the required files for the current fiscal year with a contractor for the education department who is responsible for collecting and verifying the documentation. The contractor could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

But Der said he was told by the contractor that some of the files were incomplete and that others were not the files requested.

In previous years, Corona said, state education monitors visited Hermandad and watched classes, reviewed files and approved continued funding. He said he believes the demand for repayment and the slash in funding are the result of an investigation by the FBI and the office of inspector general for the U.S. Department of Education.

The agencies are probing whether the state Department of Education provided proper oversight of the funds, and whether Hermandad and nine other agencies misused $15 million in federal adult education funds.

“I think the poor department is under so much heat they don’t know what to do,” Corona said.

Der denied that the state’s actions were triggered by the probe, and stressed that even if monitors had visited classes in the past, records to prove students had finished classes still had not been filed.

“I want to emphasize that we’re open to any documentation. . . . We made it very clear in our letter to him that he has 30 days to rebut or to challenge our determination,” Der said.

He said Corona had sent a letter appealing the board’s action on Thursday, “but he offered no documentation, no proof.”