FINDING 2022-005 Subject: Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies - Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking 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): S010A190014; S010A200014, S010A210014 Pass-Through Entity: Indiana Department of Education Compliance Requirement: Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking Audit Findings: Material Weakness, Modified Opinion 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 Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking compliance requirement. Level of Effort - Supplement not Supplant The School Corporation had not designed, nor implemented policies and procedures to ensure that all Title I schools received an equitable share of the state and local funds that it would have received had they not been receiving Title I funds. The Title I applications included the methodology used to distribute state and local funds to all schools within the School Corporation; however, documentation was not presented for audit that reflected the actual calculation. Therefore, it could not be determined that the schools received an equitable share of the state and local funds. Earmarking The School Corporation had not designed, nor implemented policies and procedures to ensure that the required level of expenditures for Parent Involvement was met. The School Corporation did not meet the required level of expenditures for Parental Involvement for the FY20 grant. The required amount for parental involvement was $51,094 and the School Corporation had expenses of $37. The lack of internal controls was a systemic issue throughout the audit period. The noncompliance over Level of Effort - Supplement not Supplant was a systemic issue throughout the audit period. The noncompliance over the Earmarking compliance requirement was isolated to the S010A190014 grant award. 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). . . ." 20 USC 6321(b) states in part: "Federal funds to supplement, not supplant, non-Federal funds (1) In general A State educational agency or local educational agency shall use Federal funds received under this part only to supplement the funds that would, in the absence of such Federal funds, be made available from State and local sources for the education of students participating in programs assisted under this part, and not to supplant such funds. (2) Compliance To demonstrate compliance with paragraph (1), a local educational agency shall demonstrate that the methodology used to allocate State and local funds to each school receiving assistance under this part ensures that such school receives all of the State and local funds it would otherwise receive if it were not receiving assistance under this part. . . ." 20 USC 6318(a)(3) states in part: "(A) In general Each local educational agency shall reserve at least 1 percent of its allocation under subpart 2 to assist schools to carry out the activities described in this section, except that this subparagraph shall not apply if 1 percent of such agency's allocation under subpart 2 for the fiscal year for which the determination is made is $5,000 or less. Nothing in this subparagraph shall be construed to limit local educational agencies from reserving more than 1 percent of its allocation under subpart 2 to assist schools to carry out activities described in this section. . . . (D) Use of Funds Funds reserved under subparagraph (A) by a local educational agency shall be used to carry out activities and strategies consistent with the local educational agency's parent and family engagement policy, including not less than 1 of the following: (i) Supporting schools and nonprofit organizations in providing professional development for local educational agency and school personnel regarding parent and family engagement strategies, which may be provided jointly to teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, early childhood educators, and parents and family members. (ii) Supporting programs that reach parents and family members at home, in the community, and at school. (iii) Disseminating information on best practices focused on parent and family engagement, especially best practices for increasing the engagement of economically disadvantaged parents and family members. (iv) Collaborating, or providing subgrants to schools to enable such schools to collaborate, with community-based or other organizations or employers with a record of success in improving and increasing parent and family engagement. (v) Engaging in any other activities and strategies that the local educational agency determines are appropriate and consistent with such agency's parent and family engagement policy." Cause Management had not developed, nor implemented an effective system of internal control that would have ensured compliance, or that supporting documentation be retained for audit, with the grant agreement and the Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking compliance requirement. Effect The failure to establish an effective internal control system enabled material noncompliance to go undetected. Noncompliance with the grant agreement and the Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking compliance requirement could have resulted in the loss of future federal funds to the School Corporation. Questioned Costs There were no questioned costs identified. Recommendation We recommended that the School Corporation's management establish a system of internal control, and retain all supporting documentation, to ensure compliance and comply with the grant agreement and the Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking compliance requirement. Views of Responsible Officials For the views of responsible officials, refer to the Corrective Action Plan that is part of this report.