Roy Johnson carved out more than $80 million from the education budget for his use after becoming chancellor of Alabama's two-year colleges in 2002, taking control of the money with approval from legislators who had financial ties to the system, records show.

The arrangement gave Johnson discretion over the money for special projects, contracts and programs, records show. The change also allowed legislators to place millions of dollars in the two-year system's budget that Johnson later could send to projects in their districts.

"That's exactly what happened," Interim Chancellor Thomas Corts said.

Corts said his staff is trying to identify how more than $57 million of this discretionary money is supposed to be spent this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Most of the deals Johnson made to spend the money are not in writing, and Corts said he is attempting to identify where the money goes.

The staff already has identified about $17 million in projects that must be funded, Corts said.

In most cases, the system already is committed to certain projects "whether we like it or not" because of deals Johnson made, Corts said. Some of those projects came at the request of legislators who wanted to send money to their districts.

"Some of the money has very specific intentions," Corts said.

Ties to Legislature

About a third of Alabama's House and Senate members have financial ties to the twoyear system, with those members, their relatives or their businesses receiving payments since 2002, records show.

Rep. Richard Lindsey, the House Education Budget Committee chairman, said this week that Johnson helped his wife obtain a part-time job with a Jasper computer company that also had hired Johnson's daughter.

"He recommended it as a place of possible employment for part-time work," Lindsey said.

Johna Lindsey, who receives more than $25,000 a year at Gadsden State Community College, also received $2,000 a month from The Access Group for a 10-month contract that ended last year, Lindsey said. She did the work at home "through faxing and computer and e-mail and those type of things," he said. "It was primarily proofreading tests and doing those kinds of things."

Lindsey said he didn't think Johnson was trying to gain favor with him by helping his wife with the Access job. "I certainly would hope not, because I never have shown any favor to him or anyone else."

Access' business in the twoyear system more than doubled during Johnson's tenure, totaling more than $6.5 million since 2002. The company hired Johnson's daughter, Malinda Morgan, in 2004 after Johnson made changes that led to Access taking over the state's GED grading program.

Gave Johnson control

Johnson, himself a House speaker pro tempore when he represented the Tuscaloosa area in the Legislature decades ago, persuaded Lindsey and other lawmakers to change the education budget in 2003 to give him control over millions, records show. Lawmakers also increased the state's two-year college budget significantly at a time when Johnson's relatives and friends were receiving jobs in the system, records show.

Since 2002, legislators have increased by 50 percent, $128 million, the two-year system's budget, state budget records show. The budget legislators approved months after Johnson took over in 2002 was $253.5 million in state funds; the current budget is $381.5 million, records show.

About $47.5 million of the added money since 2003 paid for employee raises and increased costs for state health insurance and retirement, records show. Johnson had discretion over more than $80 million of that increase, including the existing $57 million before he was fired in July.

Some of the increased funding went to technology and workforce training programs that the system took over during his tenure. But legislators gave Johnson authority to dole out the money, at first in 2004 saying the money should go to emergency medical services and workforce development programs. The current budget includes language that gave Johnson broader authority, allowing him also to distribute it generally for "college operations and maintenance allocations."

Too much authority

Corts said this is an example of how the office of chancellor, under Johnson's tenure, received too much authority. He said members of the state Board of Education were not aware of many of the deals Johnson made to spend leftover money in the system's budget.

The largest budget increase came this year, giving the system $57 million in discretionary money that Corts said he discovered when he took over in August. The day before Johnson was fired by state board members in July, he sent letters to each of the state's two-year colleges, telling them how much of the $57 million they would receive this year.

System officials told college presidents days later to ignore those letters. Even before officially taking over on Aug. 15, Corts began meeting with lawmakers, community leaders and others across the state to hear their claims on the money for projects in their areas.

Corts said he soon learned that the amount of commitments far exceeded the available money.

"We've not unraveled all of the commitments," Corts said. "This is definitely a work in progress."

Lindsey said his understanding is that much of that money came at the request of fellow lawmakers who were helping colleges in their areas tap into more state money. "I would think that would be most of the things that Dr. Johnson had designated," Lindsey said.

Leftover money

Johnson also persuaded lawmakers to give him control of system money that was not distributed to the state's colleges. Legislators agreed to change the education budget language in the first session after Johnson became chancellor, giving him control of the leftover money, Lindsey said.

"He had the cooperation, as he explained to us, of the presidents to put emphasis on one campus to do a project and then move on to another campus," Lindsey said. "That way, he had the flexibility to use the monies at his discretion.

"We had gotten no complaints from the presidents in how the money was being used. In fact, we had gotten a lot of positive comments about improvements that were being made," Lindsey said.

But state Rep. Mike Hubbard, a Republican who also serves on Lindsey's education budget committee, said he and other GOP members complained when the language was changed. They criticized the move as giving Johnson too much control over two-year college money, but were outnumbered by committee Democrats.

"There's no doubt that the chancellor had way too much discretion," Hubbard said. "You could just build yourself a big war chest, a slush fund or whatever you want to call it."

COLLEGE CONNECTIONS

Nearly a third of Alabama's Legislature has financial ties to the state's two-year college system, with payments going to 43 lawmakers or their relatives or businesses since 2002. Members of the House and Senate education budget committees agreed to give Chancellor Roy Johnson, who has since been fired, control of more than $80 million in discretionary money beginning in 2002. Nine of 17 members of the Senate budget committee have ties to the system; seven of 15 members of the House budget committee have ties to the system.

HOUSE EDUCATION BUDGET COMMITTEE

Chairman Richard J. Lindsey, DCentre: wife, Johna, $25,414 in 2006, office manager, Gadsden State Community College.

Rep. Tommy Carter, D-Elkmont: son, Tom, $67,134 in 2006, director of admissions, Northwest Shoals Community College; daughter, Lisa, $66,066 in 2006, counselor, Athens State University.

Rep. Betty Carol Graham, D-Alexander City: $109,828 in 2006, dean, Central Alabama Community College; son, Jeff, $60,000 in 2006, Alabama Technology Network.

Rep. Todd Greeson, R-Ider: $22,260 in 2006, recruiter, Athens State University; $22,260 in 2006, industrial training coordinator, Northeast Alabama Community College.

Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, D-Mobile: $162,930 in 2006, president, Bishop State Community College.

Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Elba: $66,526 in 2005, assistant to the president, Enterprise-Ozark Community College; $38,757 in 2005, dean, Lurleen B. Wallace Community College.

Rep. James L. Thomas, D-Selma: $31,036 in 2005, construction contract, Thomas Construction Co., Trenholm State Technical College.

SENATE EDUCATION BUDGET COMMITTEE

Chairman Hank Sanders, D-Selma: $41,514 in 2005, contract for National Voting Rights Museum, Wallace State Community CollegeSelma.

Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe: wife, Susan (divorced 2005), $54,506 in 2006, recruiter, Northeast Alabama Community College.

Sen. Jimmy Holley, D-Elba: brother, Joey, $52,952 in 2006, recruiter, Enterprise-Ozark Community College.

Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals: $81,281 in 2004, development director; $18,000 in 2005, consulting, Northwest Shoals Community College.

Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Albertville: wife, Judy, $61,510 in 2005, technical program coordinator, Snead State Community College; son, Todd, $4,440.07 in 2006, part-time instructor, Northeast Alabama Community College.

Sen. Rodger M. Smitherman, D-Birmingham: law firm, $6,000 in 2004, legal services, Jefferson State Community College.

Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery: $81,496 in 2006, adult education director, Trenholm State Technical College.

Sen. Ted Little, D-Auburn: $37,482 in 2005, development coordinator, Chattahoochee Valley Community College.

Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison: daughter, Robin King, $12,631 in 2006, instructor, Drake State Technical College.