Fresno Unified School District to receive money from whistleblower lawsuit

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno Unified School District to receive money from whistleblower lawsuit

An extra $450,000 is on its way to Fresno Unified School District and the school board has decided to put it towards school supplies. The money stems from a whistleblower case where a former Office Depot employee accused the big office supply chain of overcharging school districts and government agencies. Fresno Unified wasn't necessarily an active part of the class action lawsuit but they were determined to be a beneficiary.

Kindergarten teacher Gloria Ruiz divides a dry eraser in half to make it last longer. She says the frugal effort is common among teachers who often use their own money to buy supplies.

The kindergarten teacher explained, "Whether it's additional books, certain types of books to go with whatever theme you're working on, you're going to go out and purchase those for your students."

Ruiz is thrilled after hearing Fresno Unified School District will benefit from a $68.5 million class action settlement with Office Depot. The whistleblower lawsuit stemmed from a former employee's accusations that the large chain wasn't honest when it said they were giving school districts, cities and other agencies a discount on supplies.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be getting $150 dollars," said Ruiz. "That's money I won't have to spend out of my pocket and teachers won't have to do that."

Fresno Unified School Board member Christopher De La Cerda said now, all of Fresno Unified's teachers -- more than 3,000 -- will benefit by getting $150 to spend online at Office Depot.

De La Cerda added, "Recognizing that we are going to have this substantial sum come back to us and because we use it for teacher supplies through the store itself we thought what better way to give it back then to give it to our teachers."