Finding Text
FINDING 2024-001
Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Eligibility
Federal Agency: Department of Education
Federal Program: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies
Assistance Listings Number: 84.010
Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S010A210014, S010A220014,
S010A230014
Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education
Compliance Requirement: Eligibility
Audit Finding: Material Weakness
Repeat Finding
This is a repeat finding from the immediately prior audit report. The prior audit finding number was
2022-006.
Condition and Context
An effective internal control system was not in place at the School Corporation to ensure compliance
with requirements related to the grant agreement and the Eligibility compliance requirement.
The School Corporation did not have a documented oversight, review, or approval process in place
to ensure the accuracy of enrollment and poverty data in the Eligible School Summary portion of the Title I
application, which is how the Title I funding is determined.
The lack of internal controls was a systemic issue throughout the audit period.
Criteria
2 CFR 200.303 states in part:
"The non-Federal entity must:
(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides
reasonable assurance that the non-Federal entity is managing the Federal award in
compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal
award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in 'Standards for
Internal Control in the Federal Government' issued by the Comptroller General of the
United States or the 'Internal Control Integrated Framework', issued by the Committee of
Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). . . ."
Cause
School Corporation officials were unaware they should verify the accuracy of the poverty and
enrollment data imported into the Eligible School Summary portion of the Title I applications, as the data
had been prepopulated by the Indiana Department of Education.
Effect
The lack of an effective internal control system placed the School Corporation at risk of noncompliance
with the grant agreement and the Eligibility compliance requirement. Verifying the accuracy of the
student poverty and enrollment data in the application will ensure that targeted assistance funding received
is allocated to the proper schools within the School Corporation.
Questioned Costs
There were no questioned costs identified.
Recommendation
We recommended that the School Corporation's management strengthen its system of internal
controls to ensure that data in the Eligible School Summary section of the Title I application has been
verified for accuracy to the corresponding period's Pupil Enrollment (PE) report data.
Views of Responsible Officials
For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.