Florida Auditor General operational audit finds eight preliminary issues with Alachua County Public Schools

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Auditor General of the state of Florida has provided a list of preliminary and tentative audit findings to the School Board of Alachua County; the findings range from a lack of compliance with fire and emergency drill requirements to a failure to post budgets on its website as required by law. Five of the findings were previously noted in a 2022 audit report, and two were previously noted in a 2019 audit report.

School Resource Officers

School Resource Officers (SROs) are required by law to complete mental health crisis intervention training, but despite a request from the Auditor General’s (AG) office, the district did not provide records verifying that any of the assigned SROs had completed the required training. District staff reportedly told the AG that the district relies on law enforcement agencies to ensure that the training is completed and later provided records showing that 41 of the 44 SROs had completed the training and that the other three were scheduled to receive training during the summer of 2024.

The report states, “Absent effective procedures to ensure and document that each SRO completed the required training, the District cannot demonstrate compliance with State law or that appropriate measures have been taken to promote student and staff safety. A similar finding was noted in our report No. 2022-099.”

Fire and emergency drills

State law requires the district to conduct specified drills at specified intervals. The AG’s office requested drill records from a sample of 10 schools and found the following:

• Talbot Elementary School personnel concurrently conducted 1 of the 6 required fire drills with an active assailant drill.
• At four of the audited schools (Alachua Learning Academy Middle School, Eastside High School, Lake Forest Elementary School, and William S. Talbot Elementary School), 10 emergency drills did not take place within the first 10 days of school, as required. The drills were 9 to 61 days late.
• At four of the schools (Alachua Learning Academy Middle School, Eastside High School, Lake Forest Elementary School, and Micanopy Area Cooperative School, Inc.), 11 emergency drills did not take place every 45 days that schools were in session. The drills were 9 to 123 days late.

The report states, “Absent effective controls over fire and emergency drills, the District cannot demonstrate compliance with applicable drill requirements or that appropriate measures have been taken to promote the safety of students and school personnel. A similar finding was also noted in our report No. 2022-099.”

Ethical conduct records and reporting

State law requires the Board to investigate all reports of alleged misconduct by employees if the misconduct affects the health, safety, or welfare of a student, regardless of whether the person resigned or was terminated before the conclusion of the investigation, and the Superintendent must notify the Florida Department of Education of the results of misconduct investigations.

According to the report, during the 2023-24 fiscal year, district records indicated that eight incidents were reported to the district for employee misconduct involving questionable conduct with a student, but the district did not complete investigations for two of the incidents or complete and maintain an Affidavit of Separation for one employee who resigned in lieu of termination.

The report states, “District personnel indicated that they were unaware that the District was required to investigate and issue a final order even when law enforcement performed an investigation or to maintain an Affidavit of Separation for applicable employees who resigned in lieu of termination. Absent compliance with the State law and [State Board of Education]-required procedures, school districts, charter schools, and private scholarship schools may lack the necessary screening tools to properly evaluate applicants, employ individuals with unsuitable backgrounds, and cause student safety to be jeopardized.”

Purchasing cards

Purchasing cards (P-cards) are issued to employees to simplify the purchase of selected goods and services. P-card holders must attend training and sign an acceptance form acknowledging their responsibility for appropriate use of the card; the AG report states that out of a sample of 26 requested acceptance forms (out of 167 cardholders), acceptance forms were not provided for five P-cardholders who spent $452,589 (out of a total of $11.9 million spent with P-cards). In June 2024, those five P-cardholders completed and signed the forms.

Also, during the 2023-24 fiscal year, seven P-cardholders separated from district employment, and three of the cards were not suspended in the required amount of time after separation. The report notes that no inappropriate expenditures were found, but untimely suspension and cancellation of P-cards increases risk of financial irregularities.

Facilities maintenance

According to the report, the district does not have policies and procedures for annually evaluating and documenting the cost-effectiveness of obtaining facility maintenance and repair services instead of using district personnel.

The report states, “In response to our inquiry, District personnel indicated that due to employee turnover, it was difficult to find employees to fill vacant positions and they were not able to provide documentation of a specific project where an analysis was made to determine whether it was more cost effective to use District personnel or contracted services. Absent a documented analysis to evaluate the cost effectiveness of such services, there is an increased risk that cost savings may not be achieved. A similar finding was noted in our report No. 2022-099.” A similar finding was also noted in a report from the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Adult General Education Classes

Districts must report enrollment and instructional contact hours for adult general education programs; the audit found that out of a sample of reported instructional hours, instructional contact hours for 19 students were over-reported by 456 hours, ranging from 2 to 98 hours.

The report states, “In response to our inquiries, District personnel indicated that the misreported hours occurred primarily due to programming errors. Since adult general education funding is based, in part, on enrollment data reported to the FDOE, it is important that the District report accurate data. A similar finding was noted in our report No. 2022-099.” A similar finding was also noted in a report from the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Fiscal transparency

State law requires the district to post each proposed, tentative, and official budget on its website, along with graphical representations of financial efficiency data and fiscal trend information for the previous three years.

As of March 2024, the graphical representations for the 2022-23 fiscal year and the official budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year had not been posted; the 2023-24 budget has now been posted.

The report states, “In response to our inquiry, District personnel indicated that the graphical representations and official budget were not posted due to personnel changes. Subsequent to our inquiry in April 2024, the District updated the Web site to include the official budget. Providing the required budget and transparency information on the District’s Web site enhances citizen involvement and the ability to analyze, monitor, and evaluate budget outcomes.”

Timely deactivation of user access to IT systems

According to the report, “Prompt deactivation of IT user access privileges is necessary to ensure that the privileges are not misused by a former employee or others to compromise District data or IT resources.”

The AG’s office sampled records from 35 of the 431 employees who separated from district employment between July 1, 2023, and March 29, 2024, and found that three former employees still had access to systems 31, 14, and 7 days after their separation dates.

The report states, “In response to our inquiries, District personnel indicated that the deactivation delays occurred primarily because the separation dates were not always timely keyed into the accounting system termination fields. Although our procedures did not identify any misuse of District resources as a result of the untimely deactivations, without timely removal of access privileges, the risk is increased that access privileges may be misused by former employees or others. A similar finding was noted in our report No. 2022-099.”

Next steps

The district is required to submit a written explanation concerning all of the findings, including actual or proposed corrective actions, within 30 days of September 11.

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