Portsmouth schools stash away year-end surplus dollars

In a highly unusual move a little more than a year ago, a special grand jury declared that Portsmouth school officials had violated state law by holding on to tens of millions in year-end surplus dollars that should have been returned to the city.

Yet six times since the financial maneuvers were first challenged by city officials, school officials have handled money – or attempted to – in ways that two experts on government accounting, interviewed by The Virginian-Pilot, deemed questionable or inappropriate.