Conflicting audits about how two Columbus City Schools executives were given pay raises prompted the district to tighten up how such raises are handled.
While officials said the process was “messy,” they dispute the district’s audit findings that executive pay bumps were handled improperly.
According to public records obtained by The Dispatch, the Columbus City Schools internal auditor in 2025 determined two administrators received pay raises above standard levels in 2021 and 2023 without board approval.
However, in February, the Ohio Auditor of State closed its own investigation, saying the two actions were indeed either approved by the board or was performed through administrative procedure and recommended further local investigation into whether “the necessary internal controls exist to circumvent segregation of duties issues for salary increases.”
Columbus City Schools said in a statement that district officials “appreciate the work” of the internal and state auditors but said the state auditor report confirms that the board “fulfilled its oversight responsibilities and acted appropriately to ensure financial oversight.”
“The district remains committed to transparency, accountability and the responsible stewardship of public resources,” the statement said.
The internal audit report focused on two executives, former district chief of staff Mike De Fabbo and former deputy superintendent David James. The report found that the two were paid at levels inconsistent with their roles and that De Fabbo may have used his former role as supervisor of the HR department to revise salary schedules, which increased his pay.
In January 2023, then-interim superintendent Angela Chapman moved De Fabbo into the interim chief of staff role, but did not discuss salary or compensation with him, saying it was more appropriate for HR, the department De Fabbo was leading, to handle.
After he was promoted to interim chief of staff, De Fabbo was given a new pay classification and a salary of $182,000, which was inconsistent with the $163,378 pay for the classification he was at, according to the report.
The day after he was named chief of staff, the report said, he requested via email that the HR department update the classifications to match $182,000. The report said his role was the only one that benefitted from this change.
On Jan. 5, 2023, an administrator in the HR department emailed the district’s labor relations executive, saying she disagreed with the salary increase and that it needed board approval. She noted, however, that the district legal team said it was OK. In August 2025, the same administrator emailed the internal auditor, saying she had made the pay increase with objection.
The CCS internal audit determined that De Fabbo had been overpaid around $54,000 over four fiscal years, and it recommended the findings be forwarded to the Ohio Auditor of State and the Ohio Ethics Commission. De Fabbo was the second-highest paid employee in 2025, The Dispatch reported in July.
The Ohio Auditor of State report, however, found that the board did not need to approve the administrative salary raise and that the board only “voted and approved on De Fabbo’s contract addendum noting his new daily rate.”
It also found that James was hired not only as a deputy superintendent but also chief operating officer and that additional pay was awarded for fulfilling that role. His salary change was approved in a June 2021 consent agenda vote.
Board member Jennifer Adair, who served as board president in 2023, said that at the time following former superintendent Talisa Dixon’s retirement, a number of people were moving into interim roles following her departure. To compensate people for their new roles, she said, per-diem rates were altered.
While Adair said that the board had ultimately approved these changes after they were handled administratively, the situation “got messy,” and questions were raised about the salary increases, leading to an internal audit.
“There was this question: How are these people making this amount of money? We didn’t understand why this happened; ultimately this was the process, and it wasn’t super clear,” Adair said.
Adair said after the internal audit report was completed, the issue was referred to the state auditor and the board consulted with its internal legal counsel, which determined Adair had signed off on the contracts and that the raise was appropriate.
“Even though [the claim of improper raises] was unfounded, it wasn’t as clear and transparent as it should have been – even to board members,” Adair said.
De Fabbo told The Dispatch that he resigned from the district in November 2025 for unrelated reasons following medical leave and was unaware of the internal audit investigation. James left the district in 2022 and now works at a nonprofit in Akron.
Adair said the district took action this year to clarify the process of administrative raises to make the process “cleaner,” so the board fully understands and can see the salary schedule.
“We are a big organization, it’s very bureaucratic, we have a lot of layers and moving parts,” Adair said. “In the end, what we needed was this business practice that we now have, that everyone can understand – it was something we found internally.”
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Messy’ CCS executive pay raises result in conflicting audits, changes
Reporting by Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
