Amazing Grace: Ali resigns from Miami-Dade post

The woman who served as former FAMU Interim President Castell Bryant’s “go-to” person on accounting recently left another financial administration job under a cloud of controversy.

Grace Ali, controller and later vice-president of fiscal affairs during the Castell years, held the position of chief financial officer for the Miami-Dade school district for just over 12 months. She was part of the administration of former Superintendent Rudy Crew, who stepped down in September amid allegations that included poor financial management.

According to current Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, $70 million of the district’s $125 million deficit resulted from “human error” on the part of the staffers who handled the budget. (Sound familiar ???)

Richard Hinds, the district’s retired CFO who returned to replace Ali, added sharper criticism. He informed the school board that Ali and former Deputy Superintendent for Business Operations Ofelia San Pedro used “creative accounting” in an attempt to balance the financial books. (Again: we've been down this road before.)

While Ali was at FAMU, state auditors discovered that $39 million had been spent without following all the required rules. The university also received its first ever qualified audits during Ali’s watch.

Ali persistently blamed past FAMU financial officials for the problems she faced. Nonetheless, President James Ammons relieved Ali of her duties on his first day in office and brought back V.K. Sharma and Marie Shetty, two former employees who had managed FAMU’s books for more than two decades.

Just six months later, Sharma and Shetty helped new CFO Theresa Hardee land an unqualified state audit.

There's no word yet on whether Bethune-Cookman University President Trudie Kibbe Reed has offered Ali employment.

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