California district engaged in ‘illegal fiscal practices’ through China partnership, audit concludes

An audit into California’s Val Verde Unified School District has uncovered “serious concerns” about “fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices” regarding its partnership with the Pegasus California School in China, Politico reports.

“Pegasus was seen as a way for Chinese students to access California’s public education system; the report noted that it guaranteed students acceptance to a top-100 American university or their money back,” writes Nicole Einbinder in a March 23 article.

The district, which has San Bernardino to its north and San Diego to its south, chose Pegasus in 2016 to be a “sister school” and began issuing diplomas to their graduates through a pilot program.

“The audit found that Val Verde improperly issued those diplomas and concluded there was no evidence that Pegasus students had satisfied course requirements and proficiency standards,” Einbinder explains.

Meanwhile, district teachers could come teach at the Chinese boarding school while “living in furnished apartments with benefits and the promise they could return to their U.S. jobs, the report said.”

Upon returning from these trips, these teachers had their salaries “improperly increased,” according to the audit.

‘Serious concerns that merit further review’

Edwin Gomez, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, said he had notified the district attorney and other officials about the “serious concerns that merit further review by the appropriate authorities” stemming from the audit.

Meanwhile, the state’s education department is also reviewing the results.

“The (California Department of Education) will not stand for any misuse of public funds and supports any investigation into this matter,” Politico quoted the agency’s comments to Business Insider. “California diplomas are for California students.”

The district has “fully complied” throughout the audit process and will continue “providing transparency and continuing to serve our students, families, and community,” a district spokesperson said in a statement.

As previously reported by The Lion, China has spent over $17 million targeting K-12 schools across the United States.

These included high schools near military bases as well as science and technology high schools, according to a 2023 Parents Defending Education review.

Much of this money came through Confucius Institutes, which spread throughout U.S. colleges and universities to promote the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “under the pretext of advancing Chinese language and culture,” noted the Daily Caller in May.

At their height in 2019, more than 100 of these institutes were active. However, in 2023 these numbers had dwindled to fewer than five, according to the Government Accountability Office.