Here is a story that the News Journal probably won’t print. The Federal Audit of the Escambia Public School District had major findings on how the district mishandled, during the 2010-11 school year, its Special Education, Early Intervention and Title 1 funds–errors totaling $973,832. Â Plus, its reserves for food services were $2,432,742.77 greater than they should have been.
Let’s take it by fund:
SPECIAL EDUCATION
For the 2010-11 fiscal year, the District reported Special Education – Grants to States, Recovery Act program expenditures totaling $3,892,071. These expenditures included charges totaling $555,277 for 100 percent of the salaries and benefits of six in-school suspension (ISS) specialists and three elementary school assistant principals, and 50 percent of the salaries and benefits of one middle school assistant principal.
The School District tried to charge 100 percent of the salaries and benefits of six in-school suspension (ISS) specialists as Special Education expenditures. However, all the students in the ISS program weren’t special education students.
District also considered the assistant principals’ salaries and benefits as allowable costs of the Special Education program since the assistant principals worked at schools with high concentrations of special education students and their responsibilities included the daily discipline of special education students, parent conferences or meetings related to special education students, and the supervision and evaluation of special education personnel. However, as the students at the schools were not all special education students, District records did not evidence the basis for these assistant principals’ salaries and benefits charged to the Special Education program.
Consequently, the combined salary and benefit expenditures of the ISS specialists and assistant principals charged to the Special Education program, totaling $555,277, represent questioned costs subject to disallowance by the grantor (Florida Department of Education).
COORDINATED EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES
The District also mishandled Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds that are services to children with disabilities, including early intervention, special education, and related services. The District may use no more than 15 percent of the amount received under Part B of the Act, in combination with other amounts, to develop and implement early intervention services for students who are not currently identified as needing special education or related services. The Florida Department of Education (FDOE) determined that the District had significantly disproportionate data for race or ethnicity of students with disabilities, requiring the District to set aside 15 percent of its IDEA Part B funds for coordinated early intervention services (CEIS).
The District budgeted the 15 percent set aside ($1,495,705), but only spent $1,178,654 for CEIS. The unspent CEIS earmarked funds were not carried forward and restricted for CEIS for the 2011-12 fiscal year, resulting in $317,051 of questioned costs subject to disallowance by FDOE.
TITLE 1 FUNDS
The A.A. Dixon Charter School of Excellence, a District-sponsored charter school, opened for the first time in August 2010 and, based on the charter school’s actual enrollment, the school was entitled to $62,658 of Title I program funds. However, due to an oversight by District Title I program personnel, the District did not allocate the funds to the school during the 2010-11 fiscal year.
The District was also awarded Title I, Part A school improvement funds, totaling $546,713, to serve Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. However, due to an oversight in the budgeting process, the District used $38,845.87 of these funds during the 2010-11 fiscal year to provide services at two schools not identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. On January 19, 2011, the District corrected the error by reimbursing $38,845.87 to the Title I, Part A school improvement funds from Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies, Recovery Act funds.
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FOOD SERVICE RESERVES
Title 7, Section 210.14(b), CFR, provides that the District must limit its net cash resources to an amount that does not exceed three months’ average expenditures for its food service program. Should the net cash resources exceed three months’ average expenditures for the food service program or amount established by FDOE, FDOE may require the District to reduce the price charged to students for lunches, improve food quality, or take action designed to improve the food service program.
In a letter dated November 9, 2011, FDOE advised the District that at June 30, 2011, the District had excess net cash resources of $2,432,742.77 based on the District’s total net cash resources ($7,314,044.50) less the average three months’ 2010-11 fiscal year expenditures ($4,881,301.73; or $17,898,106.34 of total food service expenditures divided by eleven operating months and multiplied by three months). District personnel indicated that the noncompliance occurred, in part, because planned renovation projects were not completed during the fiscal year as anticipated.
In November 2011, the District responded to FDOE that it was using the excess cash resources to renovate two school kitchens, which will bring the excess cash resources of its food service program into compliance with Federal regulations.
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The District’s website had the 2008 federal audit posted, Jim Paul’s last full year as superintendent. There were no major findings.
Santa Rosa County hasn’t posted its 2011 federal audit but had no findings in 2010 regarding its federal funds.
