{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[34, "wa-sao", "1021301", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Cheney School District No 360", "School District", "2048", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Cheney School District No 360", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-21", "federal_award_compliance", "material_weakness", 66511.0, "Questioned Cost Amount: $66,511", "The District did not have adequate internal controls 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 Education Agencies Federal Grantor Name: U.S. Department of Education Federal Award/Contract Number: NA Pass-through Entity Name: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Pa", "Background \nThe objective of the Title I program 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 $1,033,467 in Title I program funds. \nFederal regulations require federal money recipients to establish and follow internal \ncontrols to ensure compliance with program requirements. These controls include \nknowledge of grant requirements and monitoring of program controls. \nTo meet requirements for \u201chighly qualified\u201d classification, a paraprofessional must \nhave a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent and have met one of the \nfollowing requirements: \n\uf0b7 Completed at least two years of study at an institution of higher education \n\uf0b7 Obtained an associate\u2019s or higher college degree \n \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \n\uf0b7 Met a rigorous standard of quality and can demonstrate, through a formal \nstate or local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist in \ninstructing, reading, writing and mathematics, or reading readiness, writing \nreadiness and mathematics readiness \nDescription of Condition \nWe reviewed the District\u2019s internal controls over highly qualified status \nrequirements to determine whether paraprofessionals charged to the Title I grant \nmet the requirements for that status. Our audit found that the District did not obtain \nand maintain documentation demonstrating evidence that all paraprofessionals \ncharged to the Title I program met the requirements for highly qualified status. \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 did not have a process in place to obtain a high school diploma or \nequivalent from its paraprofessionals when they were hired. Instead, the District \nrelied on its understanding that most colleges require a high school diploma for a \nstudent to be accepted for enrollment. However, some out -of-state colleges do not \nrequire this before enrollment. In addition, because of an oversight, the District did \nnot follow its established process to obtain a copy of the college transcript for two \nparaprofessionals to ensure they met one of the three additional requirements for \nhighly qualified status. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nWithout adequate controls in place, the District cannot demonstrate that costs \ncharged to the grant were allowable. Also, without documentation supporting a \nhigh school diploma or its equivalent and that parapr ofessionals met one of the \nthree other requirements, the District cannot demonstrate Title I students were \ninstructed by a highly qualified paraprofessional. \nOur audit found: \n\uf0b7 None of the 13 paraprofessionals charged to the District\u2019s Title I program \nhad a high school diploma or equivalent on file at the District. \n\uf0b7 Two of the 13 paraprofessionals did not have documentation to demonstrate \nthey met one of the three additional requirements for highly qualified status. \nHowever, during the audit, the District was able to obtain evidence of a high school \ndiploma or its equivalent and additional documentation to demonstrate high ly \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nqualified status for ten of the 13 paraprofessionals test ed. The District charged \n$66,511 in salaries and benefits to its Title I program for the remaining three \nparaprofessionals and could not demonstrate the paraprofessionals met the \nrequirements for highly qualified status. \nRecommendation s \nWe recommend the District establish and follow internal controls and maintain \nsupporting documentati on to demonstrate all paraprofessionals meet the federal \nrequirements for highly qualified status. \nDistrict \u2019s Response \nThe District has developed adequate controls to ensure all required supporting \ndocumentation is collected and maintained, including high school diplomas, to \nmeet the federal requirements when placing paraprofessionals in highly qualified \npositions. \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe appreciate the steps the District is taking to resolve this issue. We will review \nthe condition during our 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, 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 516 Audit findings, establishes reporting \nrequirements for audit findings. \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 Internal controls, establishes requirements for \nmanagement of Federal awards to non-Federal entities. \nTitle 34, U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 200, Title I \u2013 Improving \nthe Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged, section 58 \u2013 Qualifications of \nparaprofessionals, establishes requirements to ensure paraprofessionals working in \nTitle I programs are highly qualified. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021301&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": ["34"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.898800012189895, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}