A former Mississippi school district superintendent has pleaded guilty to falsifying attendance records in an attempt to garner more funds from the state government.
Bill Brand, who served as Alcorn School District superintendent, was arrested and indicted in August 2021 for false representation to defraud the government. In October and November 2020, Brand used a school district employee’s management account without their knowledge to falsify records sent to the Mississippi Department of Education.
“As we have seen this week at Jackson Public Schools and other school districts around the state, falsifying education data like test scores or attendance records is harmful and wrong,” State Auditor Shad White said. “Bad, fraudulent data misleads the public about the state of our schools. If attendance records are falsified, it costs the taxpayers money. It’s important for students to actually be in schools and learning, not be a mirage on a false attendance record.”
At this time, it is unclear if Brand will be sentenced to time behind bars. His sentencing order has been filed with the Alcorn County Circuit Clerk’s office for public inspection.
