{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[25, "wa-sao", "1021235", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Elma School District No 68", "School District", "1887", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Elma School District No 68", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-07", "federal_award_compliance", "material_weakness", 0.0, "Questioned Cost Amount: $0", "The District did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for highly qualified paraprofessionals. CFDA Number and Title: 84.010 - Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instructio", "Description of Condition \nThe federal Title I program\u2019s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of \nchildren who are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in \nareas with high concentrations of children from low-income families. During fiscal \nyear 2017, the District spent $359,739 in Title I program funds. \nFederal regulations require recipients of federal money to establish and follow \ninternal controls to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls \ninclude knowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. \nTo meet the requirements for highly qualified status, all paraprofessionals charged \nto Title I must have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. \nThe District is responsible for ensuring all Title I paraprofessionals meet this \nrequirement. The District did not verify and maintain documentation demonstrating \na high school diploma or its recognized equivalent was received. The District relied \non the attestation of the applicant s without physically verifying appropriate \ndocumentation. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nWe consider this deficiency in internal controls to be a material weakness. \nThis issue was not reported as a finding in the prior audit. \nCause of Condition \nThe District was not aware of the requirement to obtain evidence of a high school \ndiploma or its equivalent to support the federal requirement. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nWithout adequate controls in place, the District cannot ensure costs charged to the \ngrant are allowable. \nUpon request, the District was able to provide documentation as evidence of a high \nschool diploma for the paraprofessionals selected. Therefore, we are not \nquestioning the paraprofessionals\u2019 salaries charged to the grant. \nRecommendation \nWe recommend the District establish and follow internal controls to ensure every \nparaprofessional provides evidence they received a high school diploma or its \nequivalent. We also recommend the District keep a copy of this evidence in the \nemployee\u2019s file. \nDistrict \u2019s Respons e \nThe District concurs with the finding and will add a step in the hiring process to \ninclude all needed documents for compliance with Title I requirements. \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe thank the District for its cooperation and assistance dur ing the audit and look \nforward to reviewing the District\u2019s corrective action during our next audit. \nApplicable Laws and Regulations \nThe American Institute of Certified Public A ccountants defines significant \ndeficiencies and material weaknesses in its Codification of Statements on Auditing \nStandards, section 935, Compliance Audits, 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 303 \u2013 Internal controls, describes the requirements \nfor auditees to maintain internal controls over federal programs and comply with \nfederal program requirements. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nTitle 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Guidance, section 516 \u2013 Audit findings, establishes \nreporting requirements for audit findings. \nTitle 34CFR Part 200, Title I \u2013 Improving the Academic Achievement of the \nDisadvantaged, Subpart A \u2013 Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local \nEducation Agencies, section 58 \u2013 Qualifications of paraprofessionals, requires all \nLocal Education Agencies (LEA) to ensure that each paraprofessional hired by the \nLEA who works in a program supported by the funds of the grant must have earned \na secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021235&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": ["25"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 5.6454410078004, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}