FINDING 2025-005 Subject: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund - Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program: COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund Assistance Listings Numbers: 84.425D, 84.425U Federal Award Numbers and Years (or Other Identifying Numbers): S425D210013, S425U210013 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Other Matters Repeat Finding This is a repeat finding from the immediately prior audit report. The prior audit finding number was 2023-005. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 22 MICHIGAN CITY AREA SCHOOLS SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Condition and Context The COVID-19 - Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) grant was established by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to respond to the Coronavirus outbreak and assist schools in creating healthy learning environments, return students to classrooms, and address local needs. The ESF grant was further funded by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. The School Corporation did not have effective internal controls in place over the Allowable Costs/Cost Principles compliance requirement. A sample of 13 payroll claims paid from the School Corporation's ESF grant were selected for testing. Of the sample, 6 employee pay rates could not be verified to a School Board-approved, allowable hourly pay rate for a high dosage tutor position. High dosage tutors were paid anywhere from $20 to $77 an hour. The School Corporation was unable to provide documentation that the School Board approved a pay rate for the high dosage tutor positions during the audit period. The total amount paid to high dosage tutors during the audit period was $472,354, which were considered questioned costs. In addition, the School Corporation paid a consulting firm to provide general support to the finance department. The expenditures were deemed unallowable as there was no documentation available that the consultants were assisting the School Corporation in preventing, preparing for, and responding to COVID-19. The total amount expended to the consultant during the audit period was $514,156, which were considered questioned costs. The lack of internal controls and noncompliance were isolated to the costs noted above for the ESSER II and ESSER III grants. 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). . . ." 2 CFR 200.334 states in part: "Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other non-Federal entity records pertinent to a Federal award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report or, for the Federal awards that are renewed quarterly or annual, from the date of submission of the quarterly or annual financial report, respectively, as reported to the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity in the case of a subrecipient. . . ." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 23 MICHIGAN CITY AREA SCHOOLS SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 2 CFR 200.403 states in part: "Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards: (a) Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles. (b) Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items. (c) Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally financed and other activities of the recipient or subrecipient. (d) Be accorded consistent treatment. For example, a cost must not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost. (e) Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for State and local governments and Indian Tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part. (f) Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. See § 200.306(b). (g) Be adequately documented. See §§ 200.300 through 200.309. (h) Administrative closeout costs may be incurred until the due date of the final report(s). If incurred, these costs must be liquidated prior to the due date of the final report(s) and charged to the final budget period of the award unless otherwise specified by the Federal agency. All other costs must be incurred during the approved budget period. At its discretion, the Federal agency is authorized to waive prior written approvals to carry forward unobligated balances to subsequent budget periods. See § 200.308(g)(3). 2 CFR 200.430(i)(1) states in part: "Charges to Federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must: (i) Be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated; (ii) Be incorporated into the official records of the non-Federal entity; (iii) Reasonably reflect the total activity for which the employee is compensated by the non-Federal entity, not exceeding 100% of compensated activities (for IHE, this per the IHE's definition of IBS); . . . (vii) Support the distribution of the employee's salary or wages among specific activities or cost objectives if the employee works on more than one Federal award; a Federal award and non-Federal award; an indirect cost activity and a direct cost activity; two or more indirect activities which are allocated using different allocation bases; or an unallowable activity and a direct or indirect cost activity. . . ." INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 24 MICHIGAN CITY AREA SCHOOLS SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) 2 CFR 200.404 states: "A cost is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost. The question of reasonableness is particularly important when the non- Federal entity is predominantly federally-funded. In determining reasonableness of a given cost, consideration must be given to: (a) Whether the cost is of a type generally recognized as ordinary and necessary for the operation of the non-Federal entity or the proper and efficient performance of the Federal award. (b) The restraints or requirements imposed by such factors as: sound business practices; arm's-length bargaining; Federal, state, local, tribal, and other laws and regulations; and terms and conditions of the Federal award. (c) Market prices for comparable goods or services for the geographic area. (d) Whether the individuals concerned acted with prudence in the circumstances considering their responsibilities to the non-Federal entity, its employees, where applicable its students or membership, the public at large, and the Federal Government. (e) Whether the non-Federal entity significantly deviates from its established practices and policies regarding the incurrence of costs, which may unjustifiably increase the Federal award's cost." 34 CFR 76.731 states: "A State and a subgrantee shall keep records to show its compliance with program requirements." Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L. No. 116-260, 134 Stat. 1924 (2020) states in part: "For an additional amount for "Education Stabilization Fund".to remain available through September 30, 2022, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically, or internationally . . ." Cause Payroll records were incomplete as the School Corporation was unable to provide documentation that all rates of pay were approved by the School Board. The School Corporation did not include the consultants above in the budget submitted as part of the grant application, and so the School Corporation did not get the required prior approval for the purchases. Effect Without proper documentation, the allowability of the ESF grant expenditures cannot be substantiated, creating a risk that unallowable costs may be charged to the federal grant. Additionally, we could not determine how the expenditures met the purpose of the program. Questioned Costs We identified $986,510 in known questioned costs as described above in the Condition and Context. INDIANA STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTS 25 MICHIGAN CITY AREA SCHOOLS SCHEDULE OF FINDINGS AND QUESTIONED COSTS (Continued) Recommendation We recommend that management of the School Corporation establish a proper system of internal controls and develop policies and procedures to ensure rates of pay are approved by the School Board and adequately documented and that costs are allowable. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.