Cartwright ESD Performance Audit Report

Az Auditor General

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• Publié par: Sioc
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English

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Cartwright Elementary
School District
REPORT Student achievement lower than peer districts’
HIGHLIGHTS
In fiscal year 2009, Cartwright ESD’s PERFORMANCE AUDIT
Percentage of Students who Met or students’ AIMS scores were lower than
Exceeded State Standards (AIMS)those of peer districts and state averages. Our Conclusion
Fiscal Year 2009In that fiscal year, 13 of the District’s 22
Cartwright Elementary 90%schools met “Adequate Yearly Progress”
80%School District compares (AYP) for the federal No Child Left Behind 70%favorably to its peer
60%Act. However, 9 schools did not meet AYP districts in operational 50%
because some of their students did not 40%efficiencies, but not as well
30%in student achievement demonstrate sufficient academic 20%
with AIMS test scores 10%progress.
0%lower than the peer district
Math Reading Writingand state averages. The
District generally operates Cartwright ESD Peer Group State-Wide
efficiently with
administration and food
service costs similar to
peer averages and plant District generally operates efficiently
operations costs lower
than peer averages. In fiscal year 2009, Cartwright ESD services costs were 22 percent more per
However, the District
operated efficiently overall with pupil because the District chose to needs to improve its
administrative and food service costs provide increased training and support transportation program’s
efficiency because its per- similar to peer districts and plant for its less experienced teachers to help
mile costs were high and it operation costs that were 12 percent improve student achievement.
subsidized the program by less per pupil and 9 percent less per
$1.4 million. The District square foot. Plant costs were lower Expenditures by Functionalso needs to implement a
because building space was used required bus preventative Fiscal Year 2009
efficiently and repairs and maintenance maintenance program,
Peer address inadequate IT work were mostly done in-house. Although
Cartwright Group controls over its per-pupil transportation costs were lower
Per Pupil ESD Average accounting and student than the peer average, the $5.45 cost- Administration $641 $655 information systems, and
per-mile was 15 percent higher, Plant operations 681 776 ensure that it spends
Food service 487 491 indicating changes could be made to Classroom Site Fund
Transportation 149 274 monies appropriately. improve the program’s efficiency.
Instructional Support 626 511
The District’s instructional support
Improvements needed to reduce transportation program costs
In fiscal year 2009, Cartwright ESD’s contributed to the higher costs. The higher
transportation costs were 24 percent lower per-mile costs are due in part to driving
per rider than the peer districts’ average, fewer miles, on average, than peer
but 15 percent higher per mile. Also, the districts, which is typical of more densely
District spent $1.4 million more on its populated districts like Cartwright.2010 transportation program than it received in
However, several other factors also state transportation aid. Because of the
contributed to the District’s higher costs. December • Report No. 10-18 higher per-mile costs and the subsidy,
First, the District paid its bus drivers and auditors looked at factors that may have bus aides an average of 1 to 1.25 hours per day for have contributed to its exceptionally high repair and
unproductive time not spent driving or performing maintenance costs. In fiscal year 2009, the District’s
driving-related duties. per-mile repair and maintenance costs were more
than double the peer districts’ average.Second, although the District’s bus routes were
marginally efficient overall, its routes for transporting Recommendation—The District should eliminate
6th graders were inefficient, filling buses to only 63 bus driver and bus aide unproductive time, consider
percent of capacity with some routes filling buses to improving the 6th-grade bus routes’ efficiency, and
less than 50 percent of capacity. implement a bus preventative maintenance
program.Third, the District did not conduct systematic
preventative maintenance on its buses, which may
District lacks sufficient IT controls to protect sensitive information
Cartwright ESD has weak password controls for its security issues. For example, the District cannot
IT systems. For example, passwords for the ensure that critical software updates are installed on
accounting system can be as simple as one district computers, and it does not monitor
character, and the passwords never expire. In computers to ensure that unauthorized software is
addition, the student information system has no not installed. The District also does not have a
lockout feature that prohibits access to the system written and tested disaster recovery plan. Such a
after a number of failed login attempts. plan would provide for continued operation in the
event of equipment or system failure and protect
The District also has inadequate procedures for sensitive and critical data.
ensuring that only current employees have access
to critical IT systems. Although controls are in place Recommendation—The District should:
to automatically disable accounts after 30 days of
Implement and enforce password requirements.• inactivity, auditors found 168 user accounts in the
Implement a process to review and remove • student information system, that were linked to
inactive user accounts.former employees or to people not on a district staff
Ensure critical updates are installed.• listing.
Create a disaster recovery plan.•
Cartwright ESD also needs to address other IT
Inappropriately spent some Classroom Site Fund dollars
In fiscal year 2009, the District spent almost classes, and mugs and water bottles for its
$200,000 in Classroom Site Fund (CSF) menu preschool program.
options monies for purposes other than those
Recommendation—The District should ensure that authorized by statute. According to statute, the CSF
CSF monies are spent according to statute and menu options monies for AIMS intervention and
should reimburse the Classroom Site Fund for dropout prevention can be spent only for
monies spent inappropriately.instructional purposes. However, the District used
some CSF menu options monies to pay for food,
field trips, police support, trophies, adult education
A copy of the full report is available at: REPORT
www.azauditor.govCartwright Elementary HIGHLIGHTSContact person:
PERFORMANCE AUDITSchool District Ann Orrico [phone] December 2010