School Climate & Safety

Former Baltimore County Superintendent Pleads Guilty to Perjury Tied to Kickback Scheme

By Corey Mitchell — March 08, 2018 1 min read
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Former Baltimore County schools superintendent Dallas Dance pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of perjury for failing to disclose nearly $150,000 he earned from outside consulting jobs while running the school system.

Most of the money came from a company that landed an $875,000 no-bid contract less than a year after Dance began his tenure leading the 112,000-student school district.

Prosecutors alleged that Dance lied on his financial disclosures between 2012 and 2015, claiming he had no sources of income outside his superintendent’s salary.

An investigation uncovered that, during that time, several businesses paid him, including The SUPES Academy, which secured the no-bid contract with the school system. Dance owned Deliberate Excellence Consulting and earned nearly $147,000 for outside work during that time.

He led the district—which is among the nation’s 30 largest and separate from schools in the city of Baltimore—from July 2012 to June 2017. He announced his resignation last April, citing a need to move on the next chapter in his career.

That next chapter likely will include time behind bars.

Dance is set to be sentenced on April 20. Prosecutors have recommended a sentence of five years and want Dance to serve 18 months in jail, the Baltimore Sun reports.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the District Dossier blog.