(St. Paul) – The Minnesota Senate Education Committee today investigated the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) role in the Feeding our Future scandal, in which the FBI is investigating the nonprofit for large-scale fraud in the neighborhood of tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars that was aimed at providing meals to children in need.
The committee pressed Education Commissioner Heather Mueller on the various failures of MDE to recognize, report, and stop fraudulent activity any Feeding our Future meal sites over the last two years, but the commissioner provided very little in terms of concrete answers to the committee’s questions.
“Minnesota was not the only state to receive this federal funding, but we are the only one where 200 FBI agents needed to come to investigate wrongdoing,” Committee Chairman Roger Chamberlain (R-Lino Lakes) said. “MDE may claim the fraud was found and caught, but if it was found and caught it would have been stopped. Something went seriously wrong, and we deserve to know what.”
The committee will continue the investigation on Wednesday by hearing testimony from Department of Education finance employees.
COMMITTEE RECAP
The committee first heard from the office of the Legislative Auditor about how risk should be evaluated, how these programs worked prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the best processes for distributing funding to non-governmental organizations in order to guarantee transparency and accountability.
The committee then heard from Cathy Maes, who runs Loaves and Fishes, a successful community meal program that has locations throughout Minnesota. She explained how they administer their programs to ensure integrity, transparency, and accountability.
Finally, the committee heard from Commissioner Heather Mueller from the Department of Education. The committee asked a number of probing questions, including:
- Why the department has not yet provided key information regarding Feeding our Future.
- What she knew about red flags in the dramatic increase in funding and the potential for fraud.
- Why the legislature wasn’t notified of the potential fraud in accordance with state law despite multiple special sessions, multiple opportunities, and apparent growing suspicion about Feeding Our Future.
- Why the department failed to provide adequate oversight and supervision that led to massive fraud.