Apache Junction Unified School District Audit Report Highlights

Az Auditor General

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• Publié par: Kocuj
• Nombre de lectures: 49
• Langue: English

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Apache Junction
Unified School
District
REPORT
AdministrationHIGHLIGHTS
PERFORMANCE AUDIT
Subject
Administrative costs are those associated
The Apache Junction with directing and managing a schoolUnified School District
district's responsibilities. At the districtencompasses the city of
level, they are primarily associated withApache Junction and the
areas of Gold Canyon and the governing board, superintendent's
Queen Valley. In FY 2007, office, business office, and support
the District served 5,781 services. At the school level, these costs
Apache Junction High School English building.students attending 9
are primarily associated with the Source: District Web site.schools in kindergarten
principal's office.through 12th grade. costs were due to having more
Our Conclusion administrative positions. To achieve aApache Junction USD administrative
comparable number of administrativecosts were 10 percent higher in FY 2007Apache Junction USD’s
staff, the District would need to reduceadministrative and plant than the comparable districts’ average.
about seven positions.operation costs per
student were higher than
Administrative Cost Per Pupilcomparable districts’. The Accounting system controls
District also spent Fiscal Year 2007 need improvement—The District
substantially more per has not established proper user security$758 rider than comparable $800
$698 $640 to protect its accounting system.$700 districts because it $596 $632 $591 $573
$600 • Some users had access to the systemtransported its students
$500 beyond what was needed to performmany more miles. The
$400
District spent some their job duties.
$300
Proposition 301 monies • Some former employees’ system$200
inappropriately, and $100 access was not removed.
$0 dollars spent in the • Passwords were assigned and not
Crane Apache Flowing Nogales Avondale Presco Averageclassroom were below changed to a confidential one knownESD Junco n Wells USD ESD USD
the comparable district USD USD only by the employee.
and state averages.
Apache Junction USD will
About half of these costs were due toneed to restructure its
payouts for unused leave time, primarilyEnglish Language
Learner’s program to because the District had an unusually
comply with the state large number of retirements and
model. resignations. However, about half of these
Recommendations
The District should:
 Evaluate whether it can reduce the number of administrative positions.
 Implement proper access controls over its accounting system.2009
February • 2009Student Transportation
In FY 2007, Apache Junction USD spent a Transportation Cost Per Rider
higher percentage of its budget, and Fiscal Year 2007more per rider, on transportation than the
comparable districts. Although the District $800
$724 $644 $700 has efficient bus routes, its large $639
$556 $600 geographic size requires it to transport its
$461 $500 students about twice as many miles as
$400
$310 the comparable districts. Also contributing
$300
$154 to the higher mileage, the District had only $200
one high school and two middle schools $100
$0 and transported students from the entire
Apache Presco Flowing Avondale Crane ESD Nogales Averagedistrict boundaries to those schools.
Juncon USD Wells USD ESD USD
The District reported redrawing school
Establishing and monitoring transportationattendance boundaries for FY 2009, and
performance measures could help theis also considering expanding walking
District monitor costs and keepareas and consolidating bus stops in an
operations as efficient as possible.attempt to reduce its transportation costs.
Recommendation
The District should establish and monitor performance measures such as cost per
mile, cost per rider, and bus capacity use.
Plant Operation and Maintenance
Apache Junction’s plant operation and The District’s costs were higher in large
maintenance costs were 17 percent part because it had 15 percent more
higher per square foot than the plant employees, primarily in
comparable districts’ average. maintenance, grounds, and custodial
positions. The District also had a costly
maintenance agreement for its copiers
and high water costs because it hadPlant Cost Per Square Foot
about twice as many acres of grass fieldsFiscal Year 2007
at its schools, primarily using city water
$9.00 $8.10 $7.90 $7.55 $7.28 rather than wells or grey water.
$8.00
$6.76
$7.00 $5.99 In addition, the District entered into an$6.00
$4.89
$5.00 intergovernmental agreement with the City
$4.00 of Apache Junction to pay the utilities and$3.00
$2.00 other costs for a community park
$1.00 developed by the city on district land. The$0.00
District was able to pay these costs
Crane Apache Nogales Flowing Avondale Presco Average
without reducing other programs becauseESD Junco n USD Wells ESD USD
USD USD statute allows districts to increase their
page2budget and tax for utility costs that are in the District’s budget. The park is used
excess of an adjusted base year amount mostly by the public, but the high school
(excess utilities). swim and tennis teams use the facilities
for part of the year.
Because this property was developed
after the base year, the utility costs for
related water, sewer, electricity, and
natural gas were covered by increases in
Recommendations
The District should:
 Evaluate whether the number of plant operation and maintenance positions can be
reduced.
 Continue evaluating alternatives to reduce its water costs.
 Rebid its copier maintenance agreement.
 Continue evaluating its community park agreement with the city.
Proposition 301 Monies
Proposition 301 increased the state-wide Ineligible employees received
sales tax by 0.6 percent for 20 years increases—The District awarded
beginning in FY 2001. Proposition 301 performance pay, totaling about $3,600,
designates the money for teachers’ base to three employees who were not eligible
pay increases, performance pay, and under its plan. Further, the District
certain menu options such as reducing improperly spent about $82,500 of menu
class size, providing dropout prevention option monies to pay for employee
programs, and additional pay increases. healthcare benefits for employees who
were not eligible to receive PropositionEligible employees received about $4,000
301 monies under statute.of additional salary from Proposition 301
monies, consisting of:
 $1,000 in base pay
 $2,000 in performance pay
 $1,000 in menu pay
Recommendations
The District should:
 Ensure that only eligible employees receive Proposition 301 monies.
 Reimburse the Classroom Site Fund for the inappropriate healthcare benefits.
page3Classroom Dollars
Apache Junction’s classroom dollars
FY 2007 Per-Pupilpercentage was 54.4 percent, about four
Classroom Expenditurespercent below the state and comparable
districts’ averages and about seven points Apache Junction USD $3,901
below the national average of 61.2. Even Comparable Districts $3,949
with this lower percentage, the District’s State $4,277
per-pupil classroom spending was similar National $5,321
to comparable districts’ because it had
more resources available. These
additional resources were primarily from
budget overrides, excess utilities
adjustment, and the Career Ladder
program.
Recommendation
The District should closely analyze noninstructional spending to determine if savings
can be achieved and redirected to the classroom.TTOO OOBBTTAAIINN
MORE INFORMATION
A copy of the full report English Language Learner (ELL) Programscan be obtained by calling
(602) 553-00333
English language learners are students English proficiency received 1 hour of
whose native language is not English and English that focused on reading and
who are not currently able to perform writing and 1 hour of content that taught
ordinary classroom work in English. About vocabulary and terminology from scienceor by visiting
5 percent (304) of Apache Junction USD and social studies content. The middleour Web site at:
students were identified as ELL. school ELL students below thewww.azauditor.gov
intermediate level received 2 hours of ELL
Contact person for District’s ELL program—In FY 2007, English and 2 hours of content per day.this report: the District placed all its ELL students in However, beginning in FY 2009, theMike Quinlan mainstream classes, except for the high District will have to increase its hours of
school and one middle school. In these ELL instruction to meet new state
mainstream classrooms, teachers standards requiring 4 hours per day of
provided modified instruction using English Language Development (ELD).
teaching strategies that incorporated
additional language skills. High school
students who were below intermediate
Recommendation
The District should provide English language development instruction in alignment with
the state model.
REPORTApache Junction
HIGHLIGHTSUnified School
PERFORMANCE AUDIT
District February 2009
page 4