Tempe UHSD Performance Audit Report Highlights

Az Auditor General

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Tempe Union High
School District
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District’s administrative costs were similar efficient—Tempe UHSD’sHIGHLIGHTS
PERFORMANCE AUDIT to the comparable districts’. However, the transportation program is efficient and
District needs to address two operates at a lower cost than theSubject
administrative issues. comparable districts’.
The Tempe Union High The lower costs were due to the District’s
School District is about 162 Administrative Costs Per Pupilsquare miles and serves Transportation CostsFiscal Year 2008the City of Tempe, the
Fiscal Year 2008Town of Guadalupe, the $900
Gila River Indian $769$800
Per rider Per mile
$707 $696 $662 $680Community, the Ahwatukee $700
$645 Tempe UHSD $763 $3.57 $627Foothills area of Phoenix, $600 Comparable districts $1,091 $3.73
and parts of Chandler. In FY $500
2008, the District served $400
12,894 students in grades $300 paying lower salary and benefit costs,9 through 12. $200
possibly because most of its bus drivers$100Our Conclusion
$0 and assistants are college students who
Tolleson Tempe Higley Glendale Kingman Yuma Average
UHSD UHSD USD UHSD USD UHSDTempe Union High School are working part-time and do not receive
District’s administrative benefits. Additionally, the District’s bus
costs were similar to
First, its cash-handling policies and routes were efficient with routescomparable districts’, and
procedures were not being followed at all operating at 81 percent capacity.its transportation program
operated efficiently. The schools and were not adequate to
District’s plant operations properly safeguard cash. Further, the Although the transportation program
were also efficient, but
District did not always follow up in a operated efficiently and at a low cost,costly, because the District
operated most of its timely manner when it became aware of some improvements could be made. For
schools well below their problems. The poor controls and lack of example, the District used fuel cards for
designed capacity. The enforcement likely delayed the discovery field trips and athletic trips. However,District’s 58.2 percent
of the alleged theft of $192,000 by a there was inadequate oversight of theclassroom dollar
percentage was above the bookstore manager. fuel cards’ use, including incomplete
state and comparable documentation and no reconciliations of
districts’ averages, but the
Second, the District spent $43,700 on receipts to fuel card statements to helpDistrict supplanted at least
meals for staff who were not on travel ensure that purchases were appropriate.$245,000 of Proposition
301 monies. The District’s status. According to the Attorney General,
ELL program did not fully only staff who are on travel status are The District also did not adequately
comply with the State’s
eligible for meals. document its bus preventativemodel.
maintenance. It cannot show that it
Recommendations—The District should: conducted periodic evaluations of items,
such as bus brakes, tires, and
 Strengthen controls over cash receipts. suspension systems. It also was missing
Discontinue paying meals for pre-and post-trip inspection reports for2009 employees who are not on travel status. 12 of the 30 bus files we reviewed.
September • Report No. 09-05Recommendations—The District should:Recommendations—The District should:
 Ensure that Proposition 301 monies are used to Ensure that the fuel card sign-out sheet is properly
supplement rather than supplant other monies.completed and reconcile receipts to credit card
 Reimburse the Classroom Site Fund for moniesstatements.
supplanted in FY 2008. Ensure that bus preventative maintenance is
conducted and documented.
Classroom dollar percentage above
Plant costs affected by excess space— state average—In FY 2008, Tempe UHSD
Tempe UHSD’s per-square-foot plant cost was 12 spent 58.2 percent of the dollars it received in the
percent lower than comparable districts’, but it classroom compared to 55.3 percent spent in the
spent more of its available operating dollars on classroom by comparable districts and 57.3
plant operations because it maintained excess percent spent state-wide. The District could further
space. Tempe UHSD operated 180 square feet per increase its classroom spending if it reduced plant
student compared to the comparable districts’ costs and used Proposition 301 monies to
average of 144 square feet per student and the supplement and not supplant existing funding.
State’s 94-square-feet-minimum requirement.
English Language Learner (ELL)
Further, the District’s extra square footage does not program should follow ELL model—
Tempe UHSD needs to modify its Structuredappear necessary as most of its schools operated
English Immersion (SEI) program to be inwell below their design capacity. In addition, the
compliance with state requirements. Specifically,District’s enrollment has begun declining recently,
the District incorrectly used Individual Languagewith about 430 fewer students attending in FY 2008
Learner Plans at one school that had more than 20than in FY 2006.
ELL students instead of providing language
instruction in an SEI classroom and did not provide
Recommendation—The District should review the the required number of hours of language
use of space at each of its schools and determine instruction to ELL students at another school. The
ways to reduce excess space. District also over-reported its number of ELL
students in FY 2009.
Proposition 301 monies used to
supplant other district monies—In FY 2008, Recommendations—The District should:
at least $245,000 of Proposition 301 monies were
 Ensure its SEI program meets all stateused to supplant—that is, replace—other district
requirements.monies previously used to pay for teacher salaries.
 Accurately report its number of ELL students.We analyzed changes in the District’s FYs 2007
and 2008 salary schedules and found that, without
Proposition 301 monies, teacher salaries would
have actually decreased between the two years.
This indicates that Tempe has decreased the
amount of other district monies going to teacher
salaries, which means that teachers have not
received the full salary increases intended by
Proposition 301.
A copy of the full report is available at: REPORT
www.azauditor.govTempe Union High HIGHLIGHTSContact person: PERFORMANCE AUDITSchool District
Vicki Hunter [phone] September 2009