{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[27, "wa-sao", "1021263", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Clover Park School District No 400", "School District", "2002", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Clover Park School District No 400", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-10", "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 \u2013 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 Instruction ", "Background \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 \nfiscal year 2017, the District spent $5,284,367 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. The District \nis responsible for ensuring all paraprofessionals it charges to the program meet this \nrequirement. \n \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nDescription of Condition \nThe District did not verify and maintain document ation demonstrating that \nparaprofessionals it charged to the program had received a high school diploma or \nits recognized equivalent. \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 relied on employees certifying they acquired the high school diploma \nor equivalent on their employment application to determine whether the federal \nrequirement was met. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nWithout adequate controls in place, the District cannot ensure costs charged to the \ngrant are allowable. \nThe District charged salary and benefit costs of 70 paraprofessionals to the program \nin 2017. Our audit found t he District was unable to initially demonstrate that four \nof the 14 paraprofessionals we tested had received either a high school diploma or \nits equivalent. \nWe are not questioning costs. The District subsequently verified that each \nparaprofessional met the requirement, showing that two had evidence of a \nhigh school diploma and two attended a college requiring a high school diploma or \nits equivalent as a condition of enrollment. \nRecommendation \nWe recommend the District establish and follow internal controls to ensure it has \ndocumentation demonstrating it verified every paraprofessional it hires has a \nhigh school diploma or its equivalent. \nDistrict \u2019s Response \nRequest for reconsideration of finding: \nOn February 8, 2018, Clover Park School District\u2019s assigned auditor provided \nHuman Resources a list of seventeen (17) employees for the purpose of auditing \nhighly qualified paraprofessional document requirements. Of the seventeen (17) \npersonnel files audited, fifteen (15) employees met the highly qualified \nparaprofessional document requirement s. Of those fifteen (15) personnel files, \nthirteen (13) employees had documented diploma/high school transcripts and two \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \n(2) employees had met the document requirements through their BA transcripts. \nThe two (2) remaining employee personnel files were from employees that had \nresigned June 14, 2017 to move out -of-state. One (1) of those paraprofessionals \nearned her AA degree from the University of Phoenix, which required a high school \ndiploma or GED equivalent in order to enter their program (see attached \nadmissions requirements). The other paraprofessional attended Chattahoochee \nValley Community College which required a high school diploma or GED \nequivalent in order to enter their program (see attached admissions requirements). \nWe accepted these transcript s as verification of high school diploma/GED \nequivalent. It was our understanding these transcripts would be an allowable form \nof verification of high school diploma/GED equivalent. The auditor suggested that \nwe pursue obtaining a copy of the high school diploma/GED equivalent via form \nnumber SPI 1581 HEA Veri (3/04). These forms were mailed to the respective \ncollege and university; however, they were returned to us by the college and \nuniversity requiring an original signature from the former employee(s) . We made \nseveral attempts to contact the two (2) former employees via telephone and to date \nhave not received a return call from either of the former employees. We request \nyour reconsideration of the finding by accepting the transcripts along with the \nadmissions requirements we have on file for the two (2) paraprofessionals in \nquestion. \nAs an outcome of this audit, we have added some other measures to include: \nadditional communication regarding requirements for employment, and \nverification of requirements through the existing internal audit process. \nSpecifically, in addition to the highly qualified requirements listed on our job \nannouncements, we have posted the requirements on the employment web page and \nhave added a communication about these specific requirements prior to new \nemployee orientation. Also, in addition to our existing hiring checklist, we are \ncurrently re -auditing all district paraprofessional employment files to ensure \ncompliance with highly qualified requirements. \nOn April 19, 2018 the auditor notified us that three (3) employee files were removed \nfrom the audit due to being partially funded by Title. The action reduced the audit \nlist from seventeen (17) to fourteen (14). \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe thank the District for its cooperati on and assistance during the audit and the \nsteps it is taking to address this issue. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nWe reiterate that we are not questioning costs. However, auditing standards require \nus to issue a finding regarding lack of internal controls, regardless of whether any \ncosts are questioned. \nWe have verified with the pass through agency, OSPI, certification from the \nemployee of a high school diploma is not sufficient evidence to meet the highly \nqualified paraprofessional requirement. It is the District\u2019s responsibil ity to ensure \nit is hiring only qualified paraprofessionals. When the district is unable to obtain a \ncopy of the diploma, OSPI will evaluate on a case -by-case basis and may grant a \nwaiver. The District did not obtain a waiver for the employees in question. \nWe reaffirm our audit finding and will review the status of the District\u2019s corrective \naction 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 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, Uniform Administrative \nRequirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards \n(Uniform Guida nce), section 516 \u2013 Audit findings, establishes r eporting \nrequirements for audit findings. \nTitle 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Guidance, section 303 \u2013 Internal controls, describes \nthe requirements for auditees to maintain internal controls o ver federal programs \nand comply with federal program requirements. \nTitle 34, CFR 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 \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021263&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": ["27"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.989007993368432, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}