Auditor General DePasquale Urges Northern Cambria School District to Resolve Conflict of Interest Issues, Improve Recordkeeping

January 31 2014

Auditor General DePasquale Urges Northern Cambria School District to Resolve Conflict of Interest Issues, Improve Recordkeeping

HARRISBURG (Jan. 31 , 2014) – Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said today that recent audits of the Northern Cambria School District revealed two instances of potential ethics act violations involving school board members and enrollment and transportation recordkeeping efforts that have cost the district more than $25,000.

“While are encouraged that the district has acknowledged potential conflicts of interest and problems with the maintenance of accurate student records, we urge district officials to put into place procedures to prevent such issues from recurring,” DePasquale said. “We also have recommended that the district submit corrected enrollment and transportation information to the Department of Education to recoup the money owed to them.”

Auditors found that:

• on two separate occasions, school board members voted on a travel reimbursement and a private settlement agreement that involved their spouses, which is a potential violation of the state ethics act;
• submitted inaccurate data for foster children from outside the area that resulted in the district to lose more than $25,000 in tuition reimbursement from the Department of Education; and
• for the third audit in a row, failed to correct procedures for accounting for non-public school transportation.

DePasquale said the district has agreed to education board members on ethics policies and establish proper procedures for collecting and submitting accurate student data to the Department of Education and seek reimbursement for the corrected information.

Northern Cambria School District has approximately 1,200 students and serves a population of 7,900. The district received $11.6 million in state funding for the 2011-2012 school year.

The department’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 entities 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 teachers and administrators were properly certified for the positions they held during the audit period.

A copy of Northern Cambria School District audit are online at: www.PaAuditor.gov/audit-reports.

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