Iowa Auditor Rob Sand spoke at a news conference Dec. 17, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand confirmed Wednesday his office received a request to audit the Iowa Department of Education and state Board of Educational Examiners in relation to the 2023 licensing of former Des Moines Public Schools superintendent Ian Roberts.
Roberts, who was arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in September, did not have legal authorization to work in the U.S. and was given an order of removal by an immigration judge in May 2024.
Since his arrest, the Des Moines school board and district have faced significant scrutiny about why Roberts’ immigration status and previous criminal charges were not revealed during the hiring process. The school board is suing JG Consulting, the firm contracted in the search that led to Roberts’ hire, as these issues were not flagged, nor were other falsified portions of Roberts’ resume and credentials revealed by recent reports.
While Republicans and other critics have largely focused on the school district’s oversight of Roberts’ background, some Democrats have brought up questions over why this information was not flagged by the state when the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners granted Roberts an administrator license in July 2023.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, formally requested an audit of the Department of Education’s and BOEE’s licensing and background check procedures.
“Des Moines Public Schools are taking an appropriate step by requesting an audit from the State Auditor’s office, but the responsibility for transparency extends beyond DMPS,” Bisignano said in a statement. “Iowans deserve to understand how processes at the state level failed to identify this series of deceptions.”
Bisignano said he was “hopeful that an audit of the Board’s background check and licensing procedures will provide necessary accountability and begin to restore public trust.”
The auditor’s office confirmed it received Bisignano’s request Wednesday. Sand also confirmed last week his office had received a qualifying request to reaudit DMPS in light of Roberts’ arrest.
Earlier in October, state Sens. Jesse Green, R-Boone; Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, and Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, had sent a letter to Sand calling for an audit and investigation of DMPS in light of the Roberts’ situation, but Sand said their request was not valid. Under state law, Sand said a reaudit of the school district could only requested by a Des Moines school board member, DMPS staff, or through a petition with 100 signatures from people living within the district — and such a request was later received.
Sand had called the GOP lawmakers’ request an example of “partisan politics,” while highlighting their ability to request an audit of the BOEE.
“This is what legislators can request: They can request reviews of issues of spending by a state department with money from a state department. That’s it,” Sand said at the Oct. 14 news conference. “You’ll notice that none of them requested us to review what was going on with the Iowa (Board of) Education Examiners, who actually approved a license for Ian Roberts to teach. That might be partisan politics.”
On Wednesday, Sand released a statement saying Bisignano’s request was accepted while the Republican lawmakers’ request was denied because the Senate Democrat had requested an audit of a state entity.
“This request is unlike a request from legislators earlier this month to reaudit the Des Moines Public Schools, which is a governmental subdivision, and can only be reaudited at the request of an elected official or employee of the entity, or by petition from citizens per Chapter 11.6 of the Code of Iowa,” Sand said in the statement.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has also taken action to address the state role in licensing Roberts. She signed an executive order Oct. 8 requiring state government departments to verify immigration and citizenship status of people seeking occupational and professional licenses as well as state jobs using the federal E-Verify and SAVE systems.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, responding to a request about Roberts from U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, had stated Roberts’ immigration status would have been flagged through E-Verify, the federal web-based system used to check job applicants’ ability to work legally in the country. State entities will also check backgrounds using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE — the same database used by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office to check the citizenship status of registered Iowa voters.