Related articles:

Some at TUSD get smaller paychecks due to earlier overpayment TUSD naming 22 to aid in superintendent search

Other articles by George Sánchez:

One man's cancer journey'I feel like a chemical factory,' and other stops along the treatment trail The turbulent times of Roger Pfeuffer Horne out of touch, program backers sayDebate on TUSD ethnic studies descends into shouting match TUSD Ethnic Studies targeted TUSD's No. 2 resigns, eyes Marana top job Mystery donor gives $1 million to school School arrest puts TUSD librarian on paid leave 16 students named Merit scholars; most plan to attend UA

Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Construction
West-Press
Printing

Nearly 300 Tucson Unified School District employees received smaller paychecks Friday to recoup money from a $140,000 accounting error.

In early January, district officials discovered principals, administrators, school psychologists and research project managers were paid twice for one-time retroactive pay.

The affected employees received raises and retroactive pay under a contract negotiated between district officials and Educational Leaders Inc., the group's union. The retro pay was manually calculated and entered into a computer spreadsheet, though an end date was not specified in the programming, said Chyrl Hill Lander, TUSD's spokeswoman, and Pamela Clarridge, principal of Kellond Elementary School and president of the union.

District officials were alerted to the accounting error by a principal who noticed the higher-than-normal pay in the Jan. 4 paycheck. The retroactive pay was meant only for the employees' Dec. 21 paychecks.

The error amounted to an extra $141,114.38, Lander said, distributed to about 270 employees.

Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer was notified Jan. 7 and TUSD's Governing Board was alerted Jan. 8.

On Tuesday, before the board's regular meeting, Pfeuffer gave a more detailed explanation, said board President Alex Rodriguez.

The incident highlights recent problems with TUSD's fiscal management and payroll, he said.

"The big piece is what is management going to do at a staff level, because this boiled down to a human error, and no one checked this individual's work," board President Rodriguez said.

The process will now be checked by at least one or two other individuals, he said, explaining the corrective action that was taken.

"The whole matter will be looked at by the audit committee," Lander said.

The Governing Board audit committee was created in June in light of accounting errors amounting to more than $700,000.

In July 2006, TUSD's Financial Services Department discovered an inconsistency in the health-insurance account compared with previous years.

Internal memos obtained by the Arizona Daily Star stated that between $687,000 and $777,000 in health-care coverage was provided free to an estimated 4,500 to 4,800 employees four years ago.

A letter from Pfeuffer was mailed to employees in June and stated TUSD planned to collect the money.

Last February, administrators discovered that not enough tax money was being withheld from about 2,180 employees.

The health-care accounting error prompted Pfeuffer to recommend an independent management audit.

MGT of America Inc., a public-sector consulting firm, was hired and is expected to make a presentation to the governing board in March.