Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, told Lee County School District Superintendent Willie Murdock during a Legislative Joint Auditing subcommittee meeting Thursday that she had received compensation for her health insurance illegally and should pay it back.
Murdock, the wife of Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, said at the panel's education institutions' meeting that the school district had stopped paying her insurance premiums above what is allotted to other employees, but she did not plan to pay back $23,331 in premium payments. She said the previous School Board had agreed to compensate her through premium payments and approved the payments in a contract.
"Most superintendents that I'm aware [of] get a car allowance or a housing allowance. Instead of that -- because I live a block away from school, I own my own home [and] I'm not a new superintendent that comes in from another town -- in order to compensate my package ... we came to the conclusion that we could do health insurance," she said.
Her base salary is $95,000 a year, she said.
Reginald Murdock, who attended the meeting, did not speak during the meeting and was separated from Lowery by a few empty chairs. It went unsaid during the meeting that he and Willie Murdock are married.
According to Arkansas Code Annotated 6-17-1117, school districts must provide the same insurance contribution for all employees. Willie Murdock said neither she nor the School Board was aware of the requirement and Arkansas Legislative Audit had not caught the error during past audits. She said the insurance payments were made in lieu of an increased salary.
Lowery said that because the payments were not made in accordance with state law, Murdock should pay the school district back.
"I am not comfortable ... approving this finding when there are some things that are still not taken care of. For instance, the issue of restitution," he said.
The School Board has passed a motion asking Willie Murdock to pay the district back, Lowery noted.
He introduced a motion, which the committee passed, that deferred the report to the next meeting.
"That should give them a couple of months maybe to give us more clarity as to where they are on the restitution issue," Lowery said.
The committee also deferred a report on 11 audit findings at the now-defunct Hughes School District of St. Francis County.
As the Hughes School District was dissolved, school property disappeared, according to an Arkansas Legislative Audit report released Thursday. The district was transferred to West Memphis School District involuntarily July 1.
In a letter to Arkansas Legislative Audit, staff members of the West Memphis School District said, "On the effective date of the consolidation, the Superintendent of the Hughes School District notified the West Memphis School District that items were disappearing and that the West Memphis School District could obtain the keys and access to the buildings and records and should secure the same."
Among other findings, auditors said 75 iPads and one Apple laptop could not be located. Hughes School District had bought 90 iPads and one Apple laptop for $48,955, according to the report.
"We were told by [Hughes] Superintendent [Sheryl] Owens that technology was being stolen before July 1. We went down and hauled everything that was worth stealing and placed it in a warehouse till the Supreme Court ruled on the consolidation in October," the district said in its response to state auditors.
The findings have been referred to the prosecuting attorney.
Metro on 06/10/2016