It's a new school year and a fresh start for students, but maybe the same thing could be said for the Montgomery County Board of Education.
The school system announced Tuesday that the state prosecutor's office has closed its investigation into the usage of the board's credit cards after finding no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Montgomery County Public Schools said in a news release that State Prosecutor Emmet C. Davis notified the district Monday that after reviewing expexpense reports from board members and senior school officials his office decided not to continue its investigation.
The notification comes after the board voted to eliminate the district-issued credit cards for its board members and institued a per-diem policy for expenditures on approved trips taken by board members.
The state prosecutor's office also notified MCPS that the changes it institued "serve to clarify and revise board expenditure guidelines going forward," according to the release.
Improper use of the credit cards by some board members and at least one senior staff official led the school system to institute the broad changes to its expenditure policy and eliminate the cards after reviewing its expense practices over the summer.
"The entire process did lead us to review and make significant changes to expense guidelines for Board members and make improvements to our internal processes and procedures," said Board President Phil Kauffman.