{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[23, "wa-sao", "1021221", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Kettle Falls School District No 212", "School District", "2064", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Kettle Falls School District No 212", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-14", "federal_award_compliance", "material_weakness", 0.0, "Questioned Cost Amount: $0", "Kettle Falls School District did not have adequate internal controls over its federal child nutrition program verification requirements . CFDA Number and Title: 10.553 \u2013 School Breakfast Program 10.555 \u2013 National School Lunch Program Federal Grantor Name: United States Department of Agriculture Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instructi", "Background \nThe District participates in the School Breakfast and National School Lunch \nprograms, and received $262,967 from them during fiscal year 2017. Th ese \nprograms provide funding for free and reduced -price meals for low -income \nstudents. Families must meet income requirements to be eligible for these \nprograms. \nEach year, districts must select a sample of applications and verify that family \nincome information reported to the districts is correct. The Office of Superintendent \nof Public Instruction (OSPI) instruct s school districts on how to verify program \neligibility. Districts must review selected applicants\u2019 income documentation to \nconfirm students are receiving correct benefits of free or reduced-price meals. If the \nfamily\u2019s income does not meet requirements, the student is not eligible and must \npay full price for meals. OSPI instructions include guidance to districts for \ndetermining the number of applications th at must be verified based on their non-\n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nresponse rate from previous years \u2019 verifications. The verification process must be \ncompleted by November 15 each year. \nThe District was required to use a 3 percent focused sampling method, because the \nDistrict\u2019s nonresponse rate exceeded 20 percent during the 2015-2016 school year\u2019s \nverification process. This sampling method require d the District to select three \n\u201cerror prone\u201d applications for verification. Error-prone applications are defined as \nany application where the reported household income falls within $100 a month of \nthe upper income limit for free or reduced-priced meal eligibility. \nDescription of Condition \nWhile the District did have a process in place to perform the verification process, \ninternal controls were not effective to ensure the District performed the verification \nsteps accurately. \nOur audit found that although the District selected the appropriate number of \napplications to test, one of the three applications the District selected for \nverification wa s not error-prone. As such, it should not have been selected for \nverification. \nWe consider this control deficiency to be a material weakness. \nThis issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. \nCause of Condition \nThe District did not review the ap plications it selected to ensure each one met the \ncriteria for classification as error-prone. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nA lack of proper internal controls over the verification process increases the risk \nthat error -prone applications are not properly selected for verification. It also \nincreases the risk that free or reduced -price meals could be provided to children \nwho are not eligible to receive them. The District could receive funding for \nhouseholds that do not qualify for free and reduced-price meals. \nRecommendation \nWe recommend that the District improve its internal controls to ensure it performs \nits application selection process correctly. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nDistrict \u2019s Response \nThe Kettle Falls School District Nutrition Services Manager will continue to \nsample applications and verify that family income information reported to the \ndistrict is correct. The Administrative Secretary for the Kettle Falls School district \nwill continue to receive copies of the verific ations. These are reviewed to make \nsure the process was completed and completed prior to November 15 th deadline. \nControls will be updated in the following manner: \nThe Administrative Secretary will be involved in the process prior to the deadline \nof November 15th to get all back up documentation to prove that the applications \nchosen for verification are \u201cerror prone\u201d applications. She will work with the \nNutrition Services Manager to assure that we have back up documents on the \nnumber of applications to be chosen, that \u201cerror prone\u201d applications are chosen, \nand that all verifications are completed before the November 15th deadline. \nAll documentation will also be reviewed by the Business Manager. \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe appreciate the District\u2019s commitment to r esolving the issues noted and will \nfollow up during the next audit. \nApplicable Laws and Regulations \nThe American Institute of Certified Public Accountants defines significant \ndeficiencies and material weaknesses in its Codification of Statements on Auditing \nStandards, section 935, paragraph 11. \nTitle 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, Uniform Administrative \nRequirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards \n(Uniform Guidance), section 516, Audit findings, establishes re porting \nrequirements for audit findings. \nTitle 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Guidance, section 303, Internal controls, describes \nthe requirements for auditees to maintain internal controls over federal programs \nand comply with federal program requirements. \nTitle 7 CFR Part 245, Determining Eligibility for Free and Reduced Price Meals \nand Free Milk in Schools , Section 6a, Verification requirements, establishes \nrequirements for verifying eligibility of children for free and reduced price meal \nbenefits. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021221&isFinding=false&sp=false", "2026-07-30 13:24:54"]], "columns": ["rowid", "source", "report_number", "finding_number", "muni_id", "state", "entity_name", "entity_type", "entity_ext_id", "place_geoid", "match_method", "auditor", "report_title", "audit_type", "fiscal_year", "period_start", "period_end", "published_date", "finding_category", "severity", "questioned_cost", "cost_basis", "finding_title", "finding_text", "report_url", "fetched_at"], "primary_keys": ["rowid"], "primary_key_values": ["23"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 32.900629012146965, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}