PEER Report #300

AN EXPENDITURE REVIEW OF THE MISSISSIPPI AUTHORITY FOR EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION AND RELATED FOUNDATIONS, July 21, 1993, 93 pages

The Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (MAET) relied excessively on MAET executive managers to formulate and implement policy without appropriate review and control. As a result, MAET managers:

• without board oversight, determined agency mission and planning, and directed expenditures for production projects, contractual services, and capital assets;
• expended $857,590 for questionable or uneconomical purposes, including $347,165 in state funds and $510,425 in Foundation funds;
• used $42,941 in MAET funds to employ a public relations consultant who actually worked in the Governor’s Office; and,
• spent MAET and Foundation funds for Mississippi EdNet Institute, Inc., without oversight of either board.

MAET’s former Executive Director, A. J. Jaeger, violated state law by working on Foundation-related activities during MAET working hours. As a result, MAET should not have paid Jaeger $3,208 in state funds for work performed on behalf of the Foundation during MAET working hours.

For a paper copy of this report, contact PEER by telephone at 601-359-1226 or by e-mail at reports@peer.ms.gov.