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Austin Parrish
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Austin.Parrish@house.mn.gov News Release GOP Education Leads Respond to Feeding Our Future OLA Report Citing Lack of Oversight by the Walz Administration Saint Paul, MN — House Republican Education leads Representative Ron Kresha (R – Little Falls) and Representative Peggy Bennett (R – Albert Lea) expressed disappointment in the Walz Administration today after the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released their findings on the failures within the Minnesota Department of Education. Those failures led to millions of dollars in taxpayer money going to fraudsters at Feeding Our Future. The Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program both fall under the purview of the executive branch and the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), which was responsible for verifying whether the money was truly going to feed children. “This money was intended to feed children and the most vulnerable at a time when families across the state were struggling the most. Instead, a complete lack of oversight by Walz’s Department of Education led to hundreds of millions of dollars being stolen by fraudsters. Every state dollar stolen by fraudsters is a dollar that doesn’t get to those in our state who truly need help.” “The number of under-investigated reports and failures of multiple eligibility checkpoints that allowed this level of fraud to continue for as long as it did is completely unacceptable. Minnesotans rightly expect that state programs are being properly administered and that their tax dollars are being put toward the betterment of our state. There should be zero acceptance of any level of fraud in these programs and similar programs.” “This report should be a wake-up call for the executive branch that Minnesotans deserve better, and that we should expect better from those elected to lead our state. Minnesota families are already struggling under the nearly 10 billion dollars of Democrat-dictated new tax increases. They are having a hard enough time paying their bills and putting food on the table and can’t afford this level of waste, fraud, and abuse.” ### |