Years after a series of high-profile abuse cases, the Los Angeles school district still has problems resolving allegations of wrongdoing by teachers and holding down costs related to them, according to a state audit.
Last year, the district paid $12.6 million in ongoing salaries to teachers who had been pulled from classrooms and were awaiting resolution of their cases and at least another $3.3 million for the substitute teachers who filled in, says the audit, which was released late last month.
District officials say they will use the audit to make improvements, but insisted that they already had made progress.
The audit also found that the length of time needed to resolve cases has nearly doubled, from 236 to 420 calendar days, over the past five years.