Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-Parkside chancellor choice Felner won grants, didn’t account for use
Posted: July 11, 2008
The man who was poised to become chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside directed $450,000 in federal grant money to a non-existent organization he used to be involved with, according to documents from the University of Louisville.
Robert Felner, former dean of the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development, was picked to become chancellor at UW-Parkside after a national search. But a week before his July 1 start date, UW officials asked him to resign when it became public that he was the focus of a federal criminal investigation into possible misuse of funds. UW officials maintain they did not learn about the investigation when they were vetting Felner for the Parkside job.
Documents from the University of Louisville reveal more about the chancellor choice.While at Louisville, Felner wrote a grant proposal in June 2005 seeking money from the U.S. Department of Education to establish a No Child Left Behind Center in Kentucky. The proposal said the center would collaborate with the Kentucky Department of Education and Jefferson County Public Schools, providing evaluation and research services for reform and improvement initiatives.
Louisville won $694,000 — enough to fund the first year of Felner’s plan. Two and a half years later, no researchers had been hired. Felner got an extension and proposed that the school subcontract some of the work to “get the folks in D.C. at least something for the funding.”
As a result, the University of Louisville Research Foundation agreed to pay $200,000 to the National Center on Public Education and Prevention Inc. in Rock Island, Ill., a December 2007 contract shows. A January 2007 personal services contract previously directed $250,000 to the same organization for training and survey products.
But the National Center on Public Education and Prevention Inc. doesn’t exist — not anymore. According to the Illinois Secretary of State, the nonprofit was involuntarily dissolved in 2006 — well before Felner signed a contract with it.
Felner could not be reached for comment, and his attorney Scott Cox has not returned repeated calls.
Felner published several reports under the name “National Center on Public Education and Prevention” as part of his work with the Rhode Island School Accountability for Learning and Teaching system. The work was part of a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the state of Rhode Island from 1997 to 2009.
He also collaborated with Thomas Schroeder, who used to be listed as president of the National Center on Public Education and Prevention, on two grants totaling $3.4 million from 1990 to 1999.
The University of Louisville has spent $598,000of the No Child Left Behind grant. Though the money is nearly gone, it’s not clear what it paid for. Spokesmen for the agencies named as collaborators said they hadn’t heard of such a center or research.
“I’m not aware that we knew anything about it,” Kentucky Education Department spokeswoman Lisa Gross said. “The name wasn’t even familiar to staff here. . . . It is odd we would be listed as part of some group or project and no one here knows anything about it.”
Robert J. Rodosky, executive director of accountability, research and planning for Jefferson County Public Schools, said no one there had heard of the center.
Felner also directed $60,000 to an organization at the University of Rhode Island where he was still the director, even though he left the University of Rhode Island in 2003. The National Center on Public Education and Social Policy got the contract to assist with the data analysis for Felner’s Kentucky center in 2005 and 2006. In his résumé, Felner listed himself as director of the Rhode Island organization from 1996 to 2003. But the Web site for that center still lists Felner as director.
Aside from the $510,000 that was to be paid to contractors affiliated with Felner, the rest of the federal grant was budgeted for facilities and administration, salary and benefits totaling $73,000 for Felner and an assistant, a computer server and $1,200 for Felner’s out of state travel.
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