Report: Philly schools' TransPass program mismanaged

Butkovitz released a report Thursday that found the $33 million student TransPass program is "at risk for theft and abuse." The report sampled one week of TransPass activity at four high schools and found that 12 percent of the passes could not be accounted for. The lost passes - 575 of the 4,944 distributed that week - were worth about $9,500.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the district's procedures are designed to ensure that only students qualified for TransPasses receive them and that the district is only billed by the ride, not by the TransPass.

"We disagree with the city controller's notion that the district could be exposed to the losses that he describes," Gallard said. "We agree that the schools should and must improve the reporting and accounting processes."

District employees are supposed to sign each time a pass is given out, but the "vast majority" of listings were unsigned at the schools, according to the report.

Contact Regina Medina at medinar@phillynews.com or 215-854-5985. Follow her on Twitter @ReginaMedina.