State audit highlights financial worries in DeKalb schools

The state conducts an once-a-year audit of every faculty district. The audit of DeKalb, the state’s third-premier faculty district, spans the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. Watson-Harris commenced functioning as superintendent in June 2020.

After some board users expressed considerations about hiring methods and federal aid shelling out, an outside investigation disclosed some of the issues pointed out in the audit. That investigation established that Watson-Harris was unaware of these troubles.

The condition audit suggests that just about $1 million in pandemic assist could have been inaccurately documented or invested without having proper acceptance dependent on their evaluation of a sample of expenses.

Three human means and payroll staff members in the sample received bonuses totaling $23,000 devoid of board acceptance or documentation of further perform done, the audit uncovered. Quite a few other employees out of the random sample of 60 had been found to have obtained bonuses they ended up not suitable for or for which there was no documentation.

These problems could consequence in “unnecessary economical strains and shortages” for the district, the report stated, if federal or condition education and learning officials were to check with the district to return some of the money.

District officers informed auditors that they misunderstood “ambiguous” early guidance about how to shell out the money. The investigation commissioned by board users, which spanned a comparable time body, concluded that workers have been not pursuing district procedures when it arrived to disbursing bonuses.

Auditors also reviewed staff payment and found that the district could not present documentation to guidance the decades of working experience additional than two dozen workers were being currently being paid out for. Other employees received bonuses they did not qualify for or ended up paid out previously mentioned their fork out scale. And about 150 workforce utilised or accrued additional family vacation time than they were permitted.

The district blamed these challenges on a absence of managerial oversight in the human assets and payroll departments and a failure to preserve documentation relating to personnel fork out.

In a reaction to auditors, district officials famous that its interim main of human means, who was in position when these troubles had been found, has been moved to a new position. There was no interim HR chief outlined on the district’s web-site at the time of publication.

And finally, auditors observed that a lingering changeover to a new monetary management procedure boosts the district’s chance of squandered cash and accounting errors, and puts an enhanced burden on staff. The conversion to a new process began in September 2019.

Board customers questioned Watson-Harris about this transition in February. She stated her team was getting the troubles “extremely seriously,” but observed that the complications predated her administration.

“Without powerful controls above a one accounting program, the Faculty District will increase its hazard of not detecting glitches or omissions in its accounting and HR/payroll details,” the audit explained.

District officials advised auditors they assume to change to the new technique by March 2023.