Schedule of Federal Audit Findings andQuestioned Costs
Blaine School District No. 503Whatcom CountySeptember 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011
1.
unexcused absence rates it reports to the state. Incorrect reporting couldaffect a determination on whether a school is meeting adequate yearlyprogress requirements.
CFDA Number and Title:
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies84.389 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies (Recovery Act)
Federal Grantor Name:
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Award/Contract Number:
NA
Pass-through Entity Name:
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Pass-through Award/ContractNumber:
200601 and 240529
Questioned Cost Amount:
$0
Background
The objective of the Title I program is to improve the teaching and learning of childrenwho are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas withhigh concentrations of children from low-income families. During fiscal year 2011, theDistrict spent $371,761 in Title I grant funding, of which $88,894 was paid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and school districts annuallyreview schools served under Title I to determine whether they have made adequateyearly progress. Districts must identify for improvement any school that fails to makeadequate yearly progress, as defined by OSPI, for two consecutive years. To makeadequate yearly progress, a district must meet state benchmarks including anunexcused absence rate of 1 percent or less at elementary and middle schools (gradesfirst through eighth). Schools are responsible for ensuring accurate unexcused absencedata is submitted to OSPI.
Description of Condition
The District uses a web-based system to compile the absentee data it reports to OSPI.
.
wo of the four schools within the District have set thedefault status to
excused
he schools must manually change the status for unexcused
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Washington State Auditor's Office3
absences. By selecting this default, the risk of reporting inaccurate attendance dataincreases. Further, if the District does not follow up on each absence, it may incorrectlyreport unexcused absences as excused.
We evaluated th
are properly recorded as excused or unexcused in accordance with its policy. We also
primary schools for the 2011 school year. We determined 628 absences were reportedas excused when they
Cause of Condition
By setting its system to automatically designate all absences as excused until theschools follow up on the cause of the absence, the District did not have adequateinternal controls in place to ensure it accurately reports its unexcused absence rates tothe state. Additionally, the District did not adequately communicate its excused andunexcused absences policy to all employees who monitor attendance.
Effect of Condition
Without appropriate supporting documentation we cannot verify unexcused absencesreported to OSPI are accurate. Incorrectly reported absences could affect adetermination on whether a school is meeting adequate yearly progress requirements.
Recommendation
We recommend the District establish internal controls to ensure:
Accurate unexcused absence rates are reported to the state.
Documentation is maintained to support excused absences and attendance datareported to the state.
Absence policies are communicated to all staff responsible for reportingattendance to ensure these absences are not misclassified.
District
The District has reviewed the cause of the condition and found staff using the attendance software were unaware that web absences were defaulting to excused rather than unexcused absences.As a result of this finding, the District has changed the default setting for web absence codes in all buildings to unexcused. In addition, the District will be training staff on its absence and attendance policies to ensure proper procedures are followed and that appropriate documentation is maintained so support all excused absences.The district has recalculated the unexcused absence rate for grades 1 through 8 with the additional 628 unexcused absences. The calculations show that the revised unexcused absence rate remains below the state benchmark of 1%.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Washington State Auditor's Office4
We appreciate
its cooperation and assistance during the audit. We will review the corrective actiontaken during our next audit.
Applicable laws and Regulations
U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133,
Audits of States, Local Governments, and Nonprofit Organizations
, Subpart C, section 300
Auditeeresponsibilities, states in part:The auditee shall:(b) Maintain internal control over Federal programs that providesreasonable assurance that the auditee is managing Federalawards in compliance with laws, regulations, and the provisions of contracts or grant agreements that could have a material effect oneach of its Federal programs.Blaine School District Policy No. 3122
Excused and Unexcused Absences states inpart:C. An excused absence shall be verified by a parent
/
guardian
;
or anadult, emancipated or appropriately aged student; or school authorityresponsible for the absence. If attendance is taken electronically, either for a course conducted online or for students physically within the district,an absence will default to unexcused until such time as an excusedabsence may be verified by a parent or other responsible adultBlaine School District Procedure No. 3122-P
Excused and Unexcused Absences,states:Students are expected to attend all assigned classes each day.Teachers/school staff will keep a record of absence and tardiness,inclu
Excused AbsencesThe following are valid excuses for absences and tardiness. Assignments and/or activities not completed because of anexcused absence or tardiness may be made up in the manner provided by the teacher.1. Participation in school-approved activity . . . .2. Absence due to illness, health condition, family emergency or religious purposes . . . .3. Absence for parent-approved activities . . . .
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Washington State Auditor's Office5
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Blaine School District 2010/2011 Wasington State Audit Finding
The Washington State Auditor's Office recently released the 2010/2011 audit for the Blaine School District. The sole finding was inadequate control over marking students absent. The district has sinced made changes to fix this problem.
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