Food stamp education program audit in the news

Yesterday, UC Davis news service distributed a news release about an audit that found some funds intended for the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program were misspent. While FSNEP is administered at the UC Davis campus, ANR advisors and program representatives in 40 counties deliver the program to the clientele.

The news was widely reported in the media. The Sacramento Bee mentioned in its story the information was released in response to a public records request made by the newspaper. The reporter, Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, spoke to UC Davis news service director Mitchell Benson. He told the paper the current audits focused on 2005-06 and that financial records from another three years will be examined in detail by an outside accounting firm.

The reporter wrote that Benson told her the campus now is investigating what happened to roughly $1 million in funds the university was supposed to add to the program in 2005-06, and another $1.3 million of the federal money it spent that year. It has already identified $600,000 from that year and previous years that it plans to return, he said, according to the newspaper.

The Associated Press moved a brief about the story yesterday afternoon, which was picked up by a variety of newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle and the Fresno Bee.

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