2024-003 – U.S. Department of Education, Assistance Listing #84.010 Title IA Disadvantaged For the Period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024 Criteria: The Department of Education requires documentation to be maintained for every student removed from a graduation cohort. Statement of Condition: During testing, we identified six of the seven students who were removed from the graduation cohort that lacked appropriate supporting documentation, and approval as required by the control process. Cause: Clerical oversight caused the lack of documentation and authorization required to remove students from the graduation cohort. Effect: High school graduation rate information could be reported incorrectly to the State of Maine. Known Questioned Costs: None Likely Questioned Costs: None Recommendation: Management should ensure that documentation is maintained for every student removed from the cohort and ensure existing controls and policies are followed. Questioned Costs: None
2024-004 U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, Assistance Listing #10.553-10.582 School Nutrition Cluster Criteria: Non-federal entities are prohibited from contracting with or making subawards under covered transactions to parties that are suspended, debarred, or otherwise excluded from participating in the transaction. In addition, under the requirements of fiscal management, grant recipients are required to design and implement internal controls to ensure compliance with grant requirements and their own policies and procedures. Statement of Condition: The School Unit contracted with several companies to do work under a grant-funded project and did not document that the contractor was not suspended or debarred. Cause: Although the vendors used by the School Unit are not currently suspended or debarred, no formal documentation was maintained confirming the companies in question were not suspended or debarred. Effect: The School Unit runs the risk of performing projects with parties who have been suspended or debarred, which could result in the loss of future federal funding. Known Questioned Costs: None Likely Questioned Costs: None Recommendations: We recommend that the School Unit implement procedures to annually check active vendors and contractors and document that they are not suspended, debarred, or in some way prohibited from working on School Unit projects, especially those working on federally-funded projects.
2024-005 – U.S. Department of Agriculture, For the Period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, Assistance Listing #10.553-10.582 – School Nutrition Cluster Statement of Condition: During our testing we reviewed the meal counts for four of the twelve monthly claim forms, and identified immaterial differences in the number of meals reported versus the number of meals documented for each month. Criteria: Essential to proper controls over reporting is ensuring that information included in each report is accurate, and properly substantiated. Cause: When preparing the monthly claim forms, clerical errors occurred either in the ticksheets or transfer of information to the claim form which resulted in an inaccurate amount of meals reported, and this error was not identified in the review process. Effect: The total meal counts reported for the year were not accurate by an immaterial amount. Inaccurate reporting to the oversight agency could jeopardize future funding. Recommendation: Management review the control process in place and emphasize the importance of accurate reporting.
2024-006 – U.S. Department of Education, For the Period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, Assistance Listing #10.553-10.582 – Title IA Statement of Condition: During the review of wage rate documentation for Title IA funded personnel, it was noted that 2 out of 25 wage rates lacked evidence of proper approval. Specifically, the documentation did not include required signatures or formal authorization from designated approving officials, as outlined in internal control procedures and federal compliance requirements. Criteria: Per Title I, Part A regulations and applicable federal cost principles (2 CFR Part 200 – Uniform Guidance), all personnel compensation charged to federal programs must be supported by documentation that reflects proper authorization and approval. This includes wage rates that are reasonable, allocable, and approved by appropriate personnel. Cause: The deficiency appears to stem from a breakdown in internal control procedures related to personnel documentation and oversight. Effect: Failure to properly approve wage rates may result in unallowable costs being charged to the Title IA program. This compromises the integrity of financial reporting and increases the risk of noncompliance with federal grant requirements. Recommendation: The District should strengthen its internal controls by implementing a standardized review and approval process for all wage rates charged to Title IA. This process should include documented authorization by designated officials and periodic audits to ensure compliance. Training should also be provided to relevant staff to reinforce the importance of proper documentation and approval procedures.