Auditor General DePasquale Says Altoona Area School District Failed to Document Board Approval of Salary Increases

July 01 2013

Auditor General DePasquale Says Altoona Area School District Failed to Document Board Approval of Salary Increases

ALTOONA, Blair County (July 1, 2013) – Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today said the Altoona Area School District violated state law when the superintendent granted employee promotions, transfers and pay raises without the school board voting on the changes at a public meeting and without documenting the approvals in the board meeting minutes.

“The superintendent of the Altoona Area School District has been in that position for many years and he should have known that documenting the board’s approval of salary increases in a public session is a basic requirement of the school code and necessary for providing transparency to the taxpayers,” DePasquale said.

DePasquale said that in addition to performing a standard school district review, auditors looked at information related to salary increases for five employees to determine whether the changes complied with the Public School Code. Specifically, auditors found that:

• during the 2007-08 school year, the superintendent increased the salaries of two assistant superintendents by 5 percent each even though, according to the Act 93 agreement, which covers employees not covered by individual or union contracts, those employees should only have received 3.5 percent raises;
• in April 2010, the district’s board minutes documented that the board hired a new assistant superintendent at an annual salary of $105,000, but in May the superintendent submitted the new staff member’s salary to the payroll clerk at $107,000;
• at a board meeting in March 2010, the board’s minutes show they voted on and approved the promotion of a confidential secretary to the position of administrative assistant to the superintendent without specifying a salary, however supporting documentation showed that the employee was awarded a salary of $49,900, which is $7,900 above what is specified in the Act 93 agreement; and
• at the same March 2010 board meeting, the minutes document the approved lateral transfer of a confidential secretary to the secondary assistant superintendent’s office, however there was no mention in the minutes of the approval of what turned out to be a $4,000 increase in salary.

“Our auditors were unable to determine whether the superintendent informed the school board of the salary changes before they were implemented,” DePasquale said. “While we were able to find some evidence that the board and the superintendent may have discussed some of the salary increases in executive sessions or other meetings, the meetings were not documented so we could not verify the information.

The auditors recommend that the Altoona Area School District:

• ensure that all personnel actions, including hiring, promotions transfers, pay raises and salary setting are voted on and approved in a public board meeting;
• make sure that all personnel transactions are appropriately recorded in the official school board meeting minutes; and
• develop policies and procedures that require district payroll staff to verify that salary and personnel changes have been voted on, and approved, by the board in a public meeting, prior to implementing any changes.

In other aspects of the review, the auditors noted that the Altoona Area School District generally complied with the applicable state laws, contracts, grant requirements and administrative procedures they reviewed. The auditors also noted that the district corrected problems found in a previous audit regarding errors in health services reimbursement that resulted in an underpayment to the district of more than $13,000 in school years 2006-07 and 2007-08.

The Department of the Auditor General’s Bureau of School Audits examines the records of school districts, charter schools, intermediate units, and area vocational-technical schools. The audits — among other things — assess whether or not school districts received the state subsidies and reimbursements to which they were entitled, accurately managed taxpayer funds, and complied with ethics codes. The audits also determine whether or not teachers and administrators were properly certified for the positions they held during the audit period.

A full copy of the audit is available at: www.PaAuditor.gov/audit-reports.

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