The Escambia County School System is one of three in the state hit with a recent payroll accounting system security breach that allowed fraudulent tax returns to be filed in employee names.

The systems, which include Alexander and Dothan city, use Innovak – a Spartanburg, S.C.-based provider platform for financials. Ongoing investigations at those systems revealed that employee personal data was taken from a source “upstream” of its computer system or a source totally outside of it, such as individual financial institutions.

EC Superintendent John Knott said Wednesday he was notified over spring break about the possible situation. In the beginning, it did not appear the local system was involved in the breach; however, cases are beginning to appear.

As of last Tuesday, 12 cases were confirmed. The system, which operates 12 schools and one science center, issues some 900 checks each month, Knott said.

– Stephanie Nelson