Records show JTA spent $65K toward an executive’s doctoral degree, approved nearly $455K in consulting agreements

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority paid $65,000 in tuition and fees for a former senior executive’s doctoral program and approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in executive training and consulting agreements, according to records obtained by the News4JAX I-TEAM.The spending is drawing attention from state investigators as the agency works to address a financial crisis. The I-TEAM obtained records JTA turned over to the Florida Attorney General’s Office in response to a criminal investigative subpoena.RELATED | Is your bus route affected? JTA makes major changes as budget crisis forces cuts across Jacksonville | ‘We owe it to the taxpayers’: Jacksonville committee continues to seek answers on $40M transit authority deficitA 2021 memo to then-CEO Nat Ford shows Cleveland Ferguson, then the agency’s senior vice president and chief administrative officer, sought approval to pursue a doctoral degree in conflict analysis and resolution. Ferguson argued the program would benefit bot