Finding Text
2024-016 Reporting for Education Stabilization Fund
Federal program: ALN 84.425U&D Education Stabilization Fund
Federal agency: U.S. Department of Education
Pass-through entity: Colorado Department of Education
Criteria: ESSER grantees must submit an annual performance report with data on expenditures, planned expenditures, subrecipients, and uses of funds, including for mandatory reservations. An LEA is required to submit certain annual financial reports to its SEA on an annual basis.
Condition: The District did not timely file the annual financial report and the filed report did not agree to the general ledger. The District did not file its annual financial report for grant 4414 until February of 2025. The District has not filed its annual financial report for the ARP-Mentor grant.
Cause: As reported in finding 2024-010 the District does not have staff with the skills, knowledge, or resources to properly report on grants that are obtained through CDE .
Effect: There is a material weakness in internal controls over grant reporting to CDE, the District’s SEA. Additionally, material non-compliance exists for Reporting due to the lack of reporting to the SEA.
Questioned costs: None noted.
Context: Testing was performed over the total population of required reports. Statistical sampling was not used.
Recommendation: We recommend that management ensures that there is a system of controls in place that requires grant reporting to be done timely and accurately. Additionally, we recommend that the District hire an experienced grant accountant to oversee grant accounting.
Views of responsible officials and planned corrective action: Grant accounting was performed by a part-time contractor who left at beginning of the fiscal year. The CFO absorbed those accounting tasks within the remaining finance team. Failure to file ESSER reporting timely was communicated by Superintendent to CFO when the CDE sent notice, but reporting was not completed before dismissal. Management will ensure controls are in place to confirm grant accounting and reporting are reviewed, completed, correct, and timely. Management will further ensure grant accounting expertise is again employed or contracted in the district.