{"database": "mytown-research", "table": "audit_findings", "rows": [[43, "wa-sao", "1021376", "2017-001", null, "WA", "Mead School District No 354", "School District", "2045", null, "no_match", "Washington State Auditor's Office", "Financial and Federal audit \u2014 Mead School District No 354", "Financial and Federal", 2017, "2016-09-01", "2017-08-31", "2018-05-21", "federal_award_compliance", "material_weakness", 57382.0, "Questioned Cost Amount: $57,382", "The District did not have adequate internal controls to ensure compliance with the federal Title I grant requirements for qualifications of 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 Pass-thr", "Background \nThe Title I program\u2019s objective is to improve the teaching and learning of children \nwho are at risk of not meeting state academic standards and who reside in areas \nwith high concentrations of children from low -income families. During \nfiscal year 2017, the District spent $953,732 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. \nAll paraprofessionals funded by Title I must have a high school diploma or its \nrecognized equivalent and meet one of the following requirements: \n\uf0b7 Have completed at least two years of study at an institution of higher \neducation \n\uf0b7 Have obtained an associate\u2019s or higher college degree \n\uf0b7 Have met a rigorous standard of quality and can demonstrate, through a \nformal state or local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nassist in instructing, reading, writing and mathematics, or reading readiness, \nwriting readiness and mathematics readiness. \nThe District is responsible for ensuring all paraprofessionals it charges to the \nTitle I program have met the qualification requirements. The District must maintain \ndocumentation to support the paraprofess ionals\u2019 qualifications at the \nschool-building or District level. \nDescription of Condition \nWe reviewed the District\u2019s internal controls over the qualifications of \nparaprofessionals requirement to determine whether paraprofessionals charged to \nthe Title I grant were qualified. Our audit found that the District \u2019s procedures did \nnot include verifying and maintaining documentation demonstrating the \nparaprofessionals met all the requirements. \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 evidence of a high school \ndiploma or its equivalent from its paraprofessionals when hired. Instead, the District \nrelied on its understanding that most colleges require a high school diploma for a \nstudent to be accepted for enrollment, for those paraprofessionals who did not take \nthe assessments required for qualification. \nEffect of Condition and Questioned Costs \nWithout adequate controls in place, the District cannot demonstrate that costs \ncharged to the grant were allowable. Further, without documentation showing that \na paraprofessional had a high school diploma or its equivalent, the District cannot \ndemonstrate Title I students were instructed by a qualified paraprofessional. \nOur audit found the District did not have evidence of a high school diploma or its \nequivalent on file for 10 of 14 paraprofessionals it charged to the Title I program. \nDuring the audit, the District was able to obtain high school diplomas or equivalent \nfor only six of the 10 paraprofessionals we tested. We are questioning the $57,382 \nin salaries and benefits the District charged to its Title I program for the remaining \nfour paraprofessionals the District could not demonstrate were qualified. \n \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \nRecommendation s \nWe recommend the District strengthen its internal controls by verifying and \nmaintaining supporting documentation to demonstrate all paraprofessionals meet \nthe qualification requirements. \nDistrict \u2019s Response \nThe District did not have a sufficient process in place to obtain physical proof of a \nhigh school diploma upon hire. Instead, the District relied on its understanding \nthat most colleges require a high school diploma for a student to be accepted for \nenrollment as well as the listing of the high school completion on the employment \napplication which is certified as true and factual by the employee\u2019s signature on \nthat application. \nIn order to resolve this issue, there has been an audit comp leted of all para \neducator employment files to identify individuals whose file does not contain \nsupporting documentation to sufficiently prove the requirements have been met by \nthe employee. These employees with deficiencies noted in their file are now be ing \ngiven the opportunity to provide a copy of their high school diploma, or a copy of \nhigh school transcript showing graduation date, or a copy of their GED or \na college transcript listing the high school or GED with date completed/issued. \nIn addition, h iring processes have been updated to require this documentation in \norder for an applicant's file to be considered complete and passed on for further \nconsideration of employment with the district. \nAuditor\u2019s Remarks \nWe thank District management and staff for their assistance during the audit. We \nwill follow up on the status of the issue during our next scheduled 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 Guida nce), section 516 Audit findings, establishes r eporting \nrequirements for audit findings. \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________\n \n \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 34 CFR Part 200, Title I \u2013 Improving the Academic Achievement of the \nDisadvantaged, section 58 \u2013 Qualifications of paraprofessionals, establishes \nrequirements of paraprofessionals to work in Title I programs. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nWashington State Auditor's Office\n___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________", "https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1021376&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": ["43"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6084149936214089, "source": "MyTown", "source_url": "https://mytown.theboringparts.com", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}