The audit says Schroer was paid $2,189 for 29 trips that he either didn’t take or weren’t needed for his job, and was paid for 120.5 hours where he didn’t work or use leave, totaling $8,573. The audit was for between January 2017 and June 7, 2019.
The Ohio Auditor’s Office opened an investigation into Schroer in October 2019 after an accounting firm for the district reported inconsistencies with sick leave, vacation days and mileage reimbursements that Schroer submitted, according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. That investigation found he falsified records 16 times and was reimbursed $1,291.66 for travel that either didn’t happen or wasn’t related to the district.
Scott Marshall, a spokesman for Springboro schools, noted the district discovered the discrepancies internally, investigated and then passed it on to the Ohio Auditor’s office.
“The district has and will continue to cooperate in full with the State Auditor’s Office, David Fornshell, and the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, as necessary and required in order to protect the financial interests of the district and its community members,” he said.
According to the most recent audit, Schroer has repaid $10,735 misappropriated from the district, out of money that the district owed the former superintendent and both parties had agreed to hold in escrow.
Schroer entered guilty pleas March 4 to tampering with records, a third-degree felony; theft in office, a fourth-degree felony; filing a false disclosure statement and representation by public official/employer, both first-degree misdemeanors.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21 and faces a maximum of more than four years in prison. He is also barred from holding any public office, employment or position of trust in Ohio.
An Ohio Ethics Commission report also found he solicited and got $4,500 in personal loans from people whom he was considering for administrative positions in the district, and according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, solicited about $3,500 in personal loans from three vendors and got $6,800 in cash from Springboro board of education members Dave Stuckey and Charles Anderson.
Anderson told the Dayton Daily News last August the school board reported the discrepancies to the appropriate people. As for the loans, Anderson said he loaned the money to Schroer because he was having problems selling his home and other properties from his previous job in northern Ohio.
“We both offered to help him move here because we wanted to see him get off on the right foot here,” Anderson said. “He paid us both back.”
Anderson and Stuckey were re-elected to four-year terms on the school board.
Superintendents are required to disclose finances, including any loans of more than $1,000, to the Ohio Ethics Commission, according to the Warren County prosecutor’s office.
Staff writer Ed Richter contributed to this report.
About the Author
