Finding 384971 (2023-001)

Material Weakness Repeat Finding

Requirement

Questioned Costs

Year

2023

Accepted

2024-03-26

Audit: 298008

Organization: Oakland Unified School District (CA)

Auditor: Eide Bailly LLP

AI Summary

Core Issue: There is a material weakness in internal controls and noncompliance with attendance reporting for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.
Impacted Requirements: Attendance records for two out of six sampled schools showed significant errors, with rates of 27.6% and 17.2% compared to the CDE report.
Recommended Follow-Up: The District should continue refining its new attendance accounting system and apply lessons learned to enhance accuracy in future reporting.

Finding Text

2023-001 Twenty-First Century Attendance Reporting A material weakness in internal control and material noncompliance with attendance reporting Code 50000. Federal Program Affected U.S. Department of Education, California Department of Education: Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers, 84.287. Criteria The California Department of Education (CDE) administers California's 21st Century Community Learning Centers CCLC) program. Education Code sections 8484.7 ‐ 8484.9 further define California's 21st CCLC Program. This state‐administered, federally funded program provides five‐year grant funding to establish or expand before and after-school programs that provide disadvantaged kindergarten through twelfth‐grade students with academic enrichment opportunities and supportive services to help the students meet state and local standards in core content areas. The District evidences student participation by reporting attendance to the CDE. The daily attendance is recorded for all the students attending the after-school program on each school day the program operates. Condition We sampled six schools and compared the attendance record for the entire school year from the Aeries attendance system to the CDE report. We identified errors in two schools for the attendance reported to the CDE. Questioned Costs Not applicable. Context The District operates a 21 Century Program at ten schools. We haphazardly selected a sample of six schools to test all twelve months for fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, and the condition applies to two of the sampled schools. The observed error rates were 27.6% and 17.2% at those two schools. Cause In response to prior audit findings, the District transitioned to a new attendance accounting system for the after-school program during the year. Although management of the District expects the new system will ultimately increase the accuracy the attendance reporting, there were challenges as the system was new this year. Recommendation We recommend that the District continue implementing its new attendance accounting system for the after-school program. Lessons learned from the year of implementation should be used to improve the process going forward. Views of Responsible Officials Management agrees. See separately issued Corrective Action Plan. Identification as a Repeat Finding See finding 2022-006.

Corrective Action Plan

December 15, 2023 SUBJECT: Corrective Action Plan For Oakland Unified School District for fiscal year ended June 30, 2023- Single Audit Under the provisions of Uniform Administrative Requirement, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards at 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance), the auditee is responsible for follow-up and corrective action plans on all single audit findings. As part of this responsibility, Oakland Unified School District has prepared a corrective action plan for current year audit finding. OUSD’s Expanded Learning Office (ExLO) Conducted a Mandatory Attendance Meeting for all Site Coordinators and Agency Directors. ExLO staff worked alongside 83 different sites to ensure sites were aware of how to accurately track and enter attendance into escape. In addition, ExLO created an attendance dashboard that provides real-time attendance data. This new tool has allowed site coordinators to view attendance data and track missing/incorrect information. Expanded Learning Office has continued to hold regular meetings with Site Coordinators and Agency Directors to review attendance data to ensure high-quality programming occurs at all sites. This includes 4 Agency Directors meeting and 4 All leaders meeting. The Expanded Learning also hired Program Assistants to help support with monthly attendance audits to ensure accurate attendance tracking. This new role also provided on-site support to site coordinators. OUSD has implemented a new Expanded Learning Attendance improved tracking system and provided training to service providers. This new database allows for accurate and prompt attendance taking. 1.OUSD transitioned to a new attendance tracking system. Due to the multiple errors and consistentchanges in attendance, OUSD began using Aeries Supplemental Attendance tracking instead of CitySpanin fall 2021. This transition has allowed the Expanded Learning Office to support struggling sites withreal-time accurate attendance data. 2.On July 29, OUSD held a mandatory Aeries training for all after-school staff and reviewed all CDE (ASES,21st CCLC, and ASSETS) attendance requirements. Over 100 after-school staff attended. 3.All Attendance documents were revised to include Aeries attendance protocols. 4.OUSD Designed dashboards with real-time student and attendance data for all after-school providers. The CDE has accepted the District's CAP as of 8/29/2022.

Other Findings in this Audit

961413 2023-001

Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN	Program Name	Expenditures
10.558	Child and Adult Care Food Program	$5.29M
10.553	School Breakfast Program	$4.58M
84.425U	Education Stabilization Fund	$4.23M
84.010	Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies	$4.00M
84.287	Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers	$3.75M
84.367	Improving Teacher Quality State Grants	$2.03M
84.425D	Education Stabilization Fund	$1.84M
84.365	English Language Acquisition State Grants	$1.32M
84.424	Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program	$1.17M
10.555	National School Lunch Program	$804,627
84.425C	Education Stabilization Fund	$728,581
93.575	Child Care and Development Block Grant	$596,338
93.079	Cooperative Agreements to Promote Adolescent Health Through School-Based Hiv/std Prevention and School-Based Surveillance	$547,080
84.048	Career and Technical Education -- Basic Grants to States	$514,528
93.327	Demonstration Grants for Domestic Victims of Severe Forms of Human Trafficking	$473,635
84.126	Rehabilitation Services_vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States	$416,948
84.027	Special Education_grants to States	$265,959
84.181	Special Education-Grants for Infants and Families	$205,411
16.710	Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants	$197,715
93.576	Refugee and Entrant Assistance_discretionary Grants	$111,315
84.425W	Education Stabilization Fund	$103,867
84.060	Indian Education_grants to Local Educational Agencies	$35,204
93.596	Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund	$32,552
84.002	Adult Education - Basic Grants to States	$28,050
84.196	Education for Homeless Children and Youth	$26,656
84.173	Special Education_preschool Grants	$1,778