Tolleson UHSD Performance Audit Highlights

Az Auditor General - Division Of School Audits

Informations

• Publié par: Maphag
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Tolleson Union High
School District
REPORT
HIGHLIGHTS
PERFORMANCE AUDIT Administration
Subject
Tolleson UHSD is located
about 14 miles west of Administrative costs are those associated
Phoenix and includes with directing and managing a school
parts of Phoenix, district’s responsibilities. At the district
Tolleson, Avondale, level, they are primarily associated withGlendale, and Goodyear.
the governing board, superintendent’sIn FY 2006, the District
office, business office, and supportserved 7,365 students in Tolleson Union High School.
Photo taken by Auditor General staff.9th through 12th grades services. At the school level, these costs
in four high schools. are primarily associated with the
District has not developed criteria toprincipal’s office.
govern the use of these accounts. In FY
Our Conclusion 2006, the District made about 500Tolleson UHSD’s per-pupil administrative
charge account purchases totaling aboutTolleson’s administrative costs of $585 for FY 2006 were basically
$36,000. Although the District requirescosts, student similar to the $564 per-pupil average for
transportation, and plant detailed receipts to verify thesecomparable districts and $591 for theoperation and purchases, 46 purchases totaling overState. Its administrative staffing levelsmaintenance costs were $3,400 were not supported.were also similar.similar to comparable
districts’. However, the
Cell phone stipends—The DistrictDistrict did not Inadequate control over credit
adequately control the paid 41 staff, including an assistantcard and charge accounts—The
district credit card and superintendent, principals, assistantSuperintendent was assigned a creditcharge accounts, and principals, plant foremen, departmentcard for travel and general supplies.may have misused directors, and IT technicians, a monthlysome fund-raising However, he used the card for:
stipend of $38 to $67 for cell phones.proceeds. The District’s
The stipends do not appear to have57.7 percent of dollars Meals while not on travel status.
spent in the classroom been approved by the Board, and theExcessive travel expenses, such as $70
was slightly below the program has never been evaluated as todinners.
state average of 58.3 its need.Fuel and repairs for his personal car.percent. Tolleson did not
Employee gifts, such as flowers and giftseparately account for
cards. Accounting systems controlsELL-related costs.
also need improvement—The
The purchases on the Superintendent’s District did not adequately limit some
credit card are under further review by our users’ access to safeguard its
Office. accounting system.
Tolleson also established charge Questions about fund-raising
accounts with a grocery store and a activity—The District has also operated2008
home improvement store to make an annual golf tournament to raise funds
purchases for classes, school activities, for scholarships. In 2006, the districtFebruary • 2008
and facilities maintenance. However, the raised about $18,000 through thisz
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tournament. However, it is unclear if proceeds were not spent for the stated
statute allows school districts to conduct purpose. For example, about $6,800 was
such fund-raisers. Further, over half of the spent on meals and gifts for district
employees. The uses of the golf
tournament proceeds are under further
review by our Office.Recommendations
The District should:
Establish appropriate controls over its credit card and charge accounts.
Evaluate the cell phone stipend program.
Implement proper access controls over its accounting system.
Use fund-raising proceeds for stated purposes.
Student Transportation
During FY 2006, the District’s
Transportation Costs fortransportation costs were similar to the
Fiscal Year 2006average for comparable districts.
Cost per Cost per
Although its costs were similar to the Student Mile
$243 $3.08 Tolleson UHSD comparable districts’, Tolleson spent
Comparable district’s $148,000 more than it received in
average $283 $2.95
transportation funding. However, the
District’s lack of reliable rider counts
prevented us from analyzing why the
costs exceeded its funding.
Recommendations
The District should accurately track and report student riders.
Plant Operation and Maintenance
Plant operation and maintenance costs
Cost Per Square Footinclude salaries, benefits, and other costs
Fiscal Year 2006for heating and cooling, equipment repair,
$8.00grounds keeping, and security.
$7.00
$6.00Tolleson’s plant operations and
$5.00
maintenance costs were similar to the $4.00
comparable districts’. $3.00
$2.00
$1.00In FY 2006, the District budgeted about
$0.00$1.8 million in excess utility costs. Agua Fria Humboldt Lake Prescott Tolleson Yuma Average
UHSD USD Havasu USD UHSD UHSDBecause this budget adjustment will not USD
be available after FY 2009, the District is
using energy management systems to
help monitor and control energy costs.
page2Proposition 301 Monies
Proposition 301 increased the state-wide Eligible full-time employees could also
sales tax by 0.6 percent for 20 years earn between $2,423 and $3,382 in
beginning in FY 2001. Proposition 301 performance pay when performance
designates the money for teachers’ base goals were achieved, such as student
pay increases, performance pay, and achievement, graduation rates, drop-out
certain menu options such as reducing rates of 6 percent or less, and an
classroom size, providing dropout absence rate of less than 8 percent.
prevention programs, and additional pay
increases. In FY 2006, the District The District also spent its menu option
received $2,561,258 in Proposition 301 monies primarily on salary increases.
monies and distributed $2,274,885 to
employees. Incorrect Payments—Due to clerical
errors, as many as 56 of the 410
Payment amounts—The District employees who earned Proposition 301
increased base pay for eligible full-time monies were paid an incorrect amount. At
employees by $1,211, plus salary-related least 24 employees were underpaid as
benefits. much as $2,700 each, and at least 15
were overpaid by as much as $2,600
each.
Recommendation
The District should ensure that it correctly pays amounts according to the District’s
plan. It should recover overpayment amounts and make payments to employees
who were underpaid.
Classroom Dollars
Tolleson UHSD inaccurately reported Tolleson also spends fewer dollars
about $3 million in expenditures. per student in the classroom Fiscal Year 2006 Per-Pupil
Adjusting for these errors lowers the because it received fewer dollars
Classroom Expenditurespercent of the dollars spent in the due to having less experienced
classroom by 3.7 percent to 57.7 percent. teachers, and it receives less Tolleson UHSD $3,402
This is slightly lower than the 58.3 percent federal and state grant monies Comparable districts 3,614
state average and the 58.4 percent because of its comparatively low
State average 3,981
comparable district average, and is also poverty rate.
National average 5,274 lower than the 61.5 percent national
average.
Recommendation
The District should classify transactions according to the Uniform Chart of Accounts.
page3English Language Learner (ELL) Programs
English language learners are students The District also offered after-school
whose native language is not English and tutoring and a summer program for ELL
who are not currently able to perform students. The same teachers who taught
ordinary classroom work in English. They the ELD classes during the regular school
are identified through a state-adopted test day also taught the after-school tutoring
that districts are required to administer to classes. The summer program was a 3-
students whose primary home language week, 4-hour-per-day program with
is other than English. beginner and intermediate classes.
Participation in these classes was
District ELL programs—In FY 2006, voluntary.
Tolleson had 281 ELL students. The
District offered a beginning SEI block of Program costs and funding—The
four 55-minute periods of English District did not separately track its ELL
Language Development (ELD), with two of costs, so program costs could not be
those periods integrating social studies determined from district records. Tolleson
and science concepts. For intermediate received about $168,500 in ELL-related
students, the District offered two periods funding, including $96,897 in additionalTTOO OOBBTTAAIINN
of ELD classes, and students attended state aid, $41,333 in federal grants, andMORE INFORMATION
mainstream classes for other content $30,281 in state ELL grants. The District
A copy of the full report areas. Further, about 70 percent of the also received $56,332 late in FY 2007
can be obtained by calling ELL students also attended bilingual through the Compensatory Instruction
(602) 553-00333 classes. budget process. However, the District had
not started implementing new programs
with those monies.
Recommendation
or by visiting
our Web site at: In preparation for developing the District’s SEI budget request, the District should
www.azauditor.gov identify and record all ELL incremental costs.
Contact person for
this report:
Mike Quinlan
REPORTTolleson Unified High
HIGHLIGHTSSchool District
PERFORMANCE