Trustees Accept Federal Single Audit
Huntington School Board members have accepted the 2010 federal single audit report, which examined the district's compliance with requirements associated with more than $5.4 million in federal awards. Trustees also approved a corrective action plan for the findings contained in the audit.
The district received $1,718,253 in stimulus program monies through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $1,680,325 for special education, $697,007 for Title I, which supports programs for disadvantaged children, $649,294 for the school lunch program, $209,328 for improving teacher quality, $170,116 for English language acquisition, $131,361 for the school breakfast program, $89,812 for non-cash assistance/food distribution for the school lunch program, $52,178 for the education of homeless children and youth, $18,272 for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities and $5,153 for education technology.
The two audit findings involved the preparation of the district's annual financial statements and the generation of personnel activity reports by those individuals who are paid with federal grant monies.
"The auditors recommend that the district hire an individual or an outside firm to prepare our annual financial statements," said David H. Grackin, assistant superintendent for finance and management services. Trustees will be asked to allocate funds in the 2011/12 budget for this purpose.
The second finding is already being addressed. "Every person who is paid from a grant, whether for an hour of time or their entire salary, must submit paperwork attesting to the time spent on grant related employment," Mr. Grackin said. "While this paperwork is fairly easy to obtain from salaried people, it has been much more difficult to obtain this documentation from those people who perform hourly or per diem work.
Mr. Grackin said the activity reports should be cross-checked when payrolls are submitted. He is meeting "with all the administrators and staff who oversee the grants and inform them that they will be responsible for the generation of personnel activity reports. No employee will be paid for their time unless a PAR is submitted with the bi-weekly payroll."