4/30/08

Suburban News

Khalila Perrin

While Columbus City Schools leaders insist the district has a “clean bill of health,” Auditor of State Mary Taylor released a report April 22 that seemed to say just the opposite.

The report, which covers fiscal year 2007, states the district has failed to fix 26 problems pointed out in the 2006 audit or in the management letter associated with that audit.

Among those problems is the more than $1.1 million worth of assets missing from the departmental inventories, the report reads. That adds up to about 905 assets.

“Our position is (that the items are) not missing, but in another location and not properly classified in the data,” district Superintendent Gene Harris said during a press conference held Tuesday, April 22, in answer to the regular state audit.

Employees failing to file inventory tracking forms, and the slow filing process, feeds the district’s tracking problem, said the district Internal Auditor Harold Saunders.

“It’s such a labor-intensive, paper-driven system that its inherent nature causes .. problems in recording” in a timely way, said Saunders.

Still, district Treasurer Michael Kinneer said the number of “missing” assets is small compared to the more than 40,000 capital assets accounted for in the district’s current database. Also, the items are spread throughout 150 district buildings, he said.

To cope with the persisting problem the treasurer’s office has instituted a barcoding system, said Kinneer.

“We have undertaken a process by which we are barcode scanning and attaching labels to all of our inventory.

“There are two employees (from the treasurer’s office) who will go to every building in the district at least once every two weeks and scan and locate (items),” in the effort to keep better track, said Kinneer.

Taylor’s report also revealed more than $908,00 in questioned costs, which include “grant funds that were not utilized according to grant guidelines.”

The bulk of those costs included $774,206 associated with the Title I federal program — which provides funding for improving academic achievement among low-achieving or low-income students.

Other questioned costs included $71,533 associated with the Title II D — Enhancing Education Through Technology — program; $19,4076 associated with Reading First State Grants; and $43,364 associated with federal funding for the district’s breakfast program.

The inconsistencies arose from “improper and sometimes non-existent grant documentation,” the report reads.

The audit also uncovered the more than $3,764 improperly spent or accounted for funds, which must be repaid.

The bulk of that amount includes $1,284 the district spent paying out insurance claims to ineligible recipients and the purchase of $1,130 in gift cards, which the report said the district didn’t account for. The cards were used as student incentives, according to district officials.

Despite the myriad of shortfalls outlined in the report, Harris called the audit a tool the district can use to improve its practices.

“We obviously take full responsibility for the auditor’s state report and addressing those issues. … We have processes in place to address these issues,” said Harris.

“The report itself, although on the surface may look as if we might be in bad shape, in essence we are not. There are reasonable explanations for the findings,” said school board President Terry Boyd during the press conference.

“We will continue to work hard to ensure that the operation of this multi-million system will be corrected and be as efficient as any other operation in public government.”

“We obviously take full responsibility for the auditor’s state report and addressing those issues. … We have processes in place to address these issues.”

–Gene Harris

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