School district leaders respond to credit card allegations, hire independent investigator

Paso Robles school district leaders are pushing back against allegations of improper credit card use, saying the expenses in question fell within board-approved budgets and have already cleared annual independent audits — while also hiring an outside investigator to review every transaction at issue.

The controversy erupted over the first weekend of November 2026, when allegations appeared online accusing administrators at the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District of misusing district credit cards. On Monday, Nov. 2, both Board President Joel Peterson and Superintendent Jennifer Loftus released formal statements responding to the claims, which the Paso Robles Daily News reported stem from a complaint filed by one of the board's own elected members.

What the district said

According to Peterson's statement, the allegations appear to be based on a complaint that Trustee Kenney Enney — one of the district's elected Board of Trustees members — filed with the California State Auditor, the California Department of Education, and the District Attorney. Enney also shared the complaint with multiple news outlets, Peterson said.

Notably, Peterson said the complaint was never submitted to the district itself, which has since obtained a copy. He added that Enney did not raise the concerns with him, with fellow trustees, or with the superintendent before taking them public.

"The stewardship of public funds is a responsibility this board takes seriously, and our community deserves clear answers," Peterson said in his statement.

Peterson laid out the district's internal financial controls, saying district expenses are subject to internal approval and documentation requirements as well as an annual independent audit. In each of the years covered by the allegations, he said, the independent auditors issued reports without findings related to these expenditures.

"These expenses fell within budgets adopted by the Board and were reported to the Board in public session as part of our regular approval of District expenditures," Peterson said. "Nothing reviewed to date indicates that funds were spent outside of those approved budgets."

An independent review

While defending the district's practices, the board is not dismissing the allegations outright. Peterson said the district has retained an independent investigator to examine each of the transactions raised, and that the findings will be shared publicly once the review is complete.

Superintendent Jennifer Loftus struck a similar tone in her own statement, welcoming scrutiny while criticizing how the allegations surfaced.

"I want to be clear: I welcome legitimate questions about how our district spends public funds," Loftus said. "As superintendent, I am accountable to our Board of Trustees and to the families, employees, and taxpayers of Paso Robles."

"What concerns me is Trustee Enney's pattern of publicly circulating unsubstantiated allegations rather than working constructively to establish the facts," she continued.

Loftus said she also welcomes the independent review, adding that "the public deserves a careful, objective examination of the facts rather than conclusions drawn before that examination has occurred."

Why it matters locally

For a district that serves thousands of students across Paso Robles and the surrounding North County communities, questions about how public money is spent strike at the heart of the relationship between the school system and its taxpayers. School funding in California is a mix of state apportionments and local property taxes, and school boards are required to approve budgets in public session and submit to annual independent audits — the very safeguards district leaders say were followed here.

The dispute also highlights an unusual dynamic: the complaint came not from an outside watchdog or disgruntled employee, but from a sitting board member. When a trustee takes allegations to state regulators and the District Attorney rather than raising them internally first, it signals a fracturing within the governance body itself — something residents may see play out at future board meetings.

It remains unclear what specific transactions the complaint targets, what dollar amounts are involved, or when the independent investigator's findings might be released. The original allegations, published online, prompted the district's rapid public response within roughly two days.

What comes next

Several questions now hang over the district as the review proceeds:

• The independent investigation: The district has committed to publicly releasing the findings, giving residents a chance to judge the facts for themselves once the report is complete.
• State and county inquiries: Because the complaint was filed with the California State Auditor, the California Department of Education, and the District Attorney, any or all of those agencies could choose to pursue their own review, regardless of the district's internal process.
• Board dynamics: How Enney and his board colleagues work together — or don't — in the coming months will be on public display at board meetings, which are open to the community.

For now, district leaders are asking the community to withhold judgment until the independent review is finished. Loftus, in her statement, framed the episode as a test of how the district handles accountability: by welcoming legitimate questions while pushing back against conclusions reached before the facts are fully examined.

Residents who want more information can visit the district's website at www.pasoschools.org. Board meetings, where expenditures are approved in public session, are open to the public and offer another avenue for community members to raise questions directly with the trustees.

805.life will continue to follow this story as the independent investigation proceeds and as any state or county agencies respond to the complaint.

This article is based on reporting by the [Paso Robles Daily News](https://pasoroblesdailynews.com/school-district-leaders-respond-to-credit-card-allegations-hire-independent-investigator/225933/).