State Auditor Crit Luallen Releases Review See the audit report for Full Details Click here to access the School Attendance Actualities |
Crit Luallen |
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(Frankfort - October 8, 2007)
The State Auditor’s Office released a report on the Kentucky Department of Education’s attendance audit process. The report, requested by the Department of Education, was prepared in order to assist KDE in ensuring that school attendance audits are being conducted in accordance with KDE guidelines and that the guidelines contain all necessary components for the Average Daily Attendance calculations. The report makes 18 recommendations to improve the process for auditing districts’ attendance. The Average Daily Attendance calculations are the basis for allocating over $2.5 billion in funds, 31% of the entire General Fund budget, to Kentucky’s school districts.
The report found that the Kentucky Department of Education does not have a system in place to evaluate the accuracy of school district attendance data. Under the current system a problem with attendance data in a school district could go undetected for four years. Inaccurate attendance data can result in a district receiving less than its fair share of General Fund appropriations or receiving too much, depriving other districts of much needed funding. “The Auditor’s Office reviewed the process by which attendance audits are performed. These attendance audits affect billions of dollars in education spending. It is critical that our citizens have confidence that this money is spent where it is needed. Hopefully, the recommendations we made can be used to strengthen all attendance audits.” State Auditor Crit Luallen said. Among the 18 recommendations are that the Kentucky Department of Education revise the procedure guide to involve teachers in fieldwork and to verify that appropriate separation of duties exists between teachers and attendance clerks. In choosing which districts to audit, the Department should consider risk factors such as unusually high attendance percentage and dramatic changes in attendance data. KDE should also require field staff to sign an annual Independence Statement, set up a regional entrance conference, and review prior year attendance audit findings. The audits should also include the auditor’s conclusions and the impact of the findings on the districts General Fund receipts. ACTUALITY: “These attendance audits affect billions of dollars in education spending. It is critical that our citizens know that this money is spent where it is needed. Hopefully, the recommendations we made can be used to strengthen all attendance audits.” |
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