Finding Text
Finding 2025-001: Noncompliance with Special Tests and Provisions U.S. Department of Education Pass-Through S.C. Department of Education ALN 84.010, Title I, Part A Basic Grants to LEAs Grant / FAIN: 25 Title I / S010A240040 Grant Period: 07/01/2024-09/30/2026 25 Title I, TSI / S010A230040 Grant Period: 07/01/2024-09/30/2026 24 Title I & 24 Title I, TSI / S010A230040 Grant Period: 07/01/2023-09/30/2025 Questioned Costs: None Criteria: Prior to requesting Title I funds, the District must conduct timely consultation with private school officials to determine if they need to provide equitable services to eligible private school children, their teachers, and their families. Condition: We identified one private school within the District's geographic area that was not appropriately consulted with prior to requesting Title I funding for the 2024 and 2025 grant years. Cause: The District utilized an old list of private school officials to contact instead of doing an annual search for all private schools in their area. A new private school opened up in their area during 2023 and was not properly consulted. Effect or Potential Effect: As a result, the District does not meet the Participation of Private School Children requirement for the period under audit. This could result in reduced funding in future years or penalties for noncompliance. Context: To verify that all private schools within the District's geographic area were properly consulted, the auditor did an online search of all private schools within the District's geographic area, identifying two private schools. Based on a test of 100% of the private schools, it was found that the existing private school was contacted, while the new private school was not, since opening in 2023. This is identified as a systemic issue due to controls being properly designed, but not appropriately put into practice, as it relates to searching for private schools in their geographic area. Perspective: After notifying District officials of the new private school, the District made contact with the private school officials to determine if they would have been interested in participating in the Title I program. They declined services for the grant years 2024, 2025 and 2026; therefore, no funding was improperly allocated to provide equitable services. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: The District should perform an annual search for private schools in their geographic area to properly update their list of private school officials to contact prior to requesting Title I funds. This should be documented, along with private school responses to show a search was appropriately performed. Views of Responsible Officials: The District agrees with the findings. The omission occurred because an outdated private school contact list was used, and a newly opened private school was not identified during 2024 and 2025 Title I consultation periods. To prevent reoccurrence, the District will: 1) conduct an annual verification of all private schools within District boundaries before each Title I funding cycle, and 2) maintain and update a current contact list and document all outreach and consultation efforts. These steps will ensure full compliance with equitable services requirements moving forward.