(From State Auditor Thomas Schweich)
– State Auditor Tom Schweich today released the audit ofthe St. Louis Public Schools.
In the areas audited, the overall performance of this entity was Fair.
The district's financial condition is still precarious, although a recent desegregation settlement allowed the district to eliminate its deficit balance. The district paid monthly vehicle allowances of $800 to the superintendent and $300 to the former chief financial officer, which do not appear to be reasonable, and these allowances were not reported on their W-2 forms as required by IRS Rules.
The district contracted with the same vendor for student busing since 2004 without competitive bidding at a cost of almost $24 million during the year ended June 30, 2012. The district has used the same law firm as its primary legal counsel since 2007 and the same company as its primary lobbyist since 2008 without obtaining periodic requests for proposals. The district should improve its bidding procedures for large construction projects, and Schweich's staff noted concerns with the development and evaluation of some requests for proposals.
The district does not comply with state law regarding the promotion and retention of at-risk students. For example, the district promoted 656 out of 759 (88%) 3rd and 4th graders who were reading more than one grade level below current grade. The district's central office does not properly evaluate all educational programs and was not even aware of the existence of approximately 1,000 of these programs.
After media reports regarding the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) testing irregularities, the district increased the number of Quality Assurance Monitors (QAM) and the frequency of monitoring visits. In early June 2012, Schweich's staff reviewed the monitoring forms and found the district was missing approximately 100 (out of 400) monitoring forms for 30 schools. Two of the independent QAM's, who were paid $500 by the district for 18 hour of work had not submitted any forms. The district does not have a formal proactive process to identify and investigate unusual fluctuations in school MAP test scores or to identify schools which should be monitored more closely. Currently, it is up to each individual school to determine the extent to
which compiled testing data is utilized.
The district has not fully implemented the recommendations contained in our previous audit report detailing apparent attendance data manipulation at Patrick Henry Downtown Academy and has not implemented many of the recommendations made by its independent auditor.
To read the full follow-up report, visit: http://www.auditor.mo.gov/Press/2013-085.pdf
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