Finding Text
U.S. Department of Education
Passed-through the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education
Special Education Cluster – CFDA 84.027 & 84.173
Criteria: Grant revenues should offset approved grant expenditures. All activity that is deemed non-grant related should be recorded to the appropriate fund.
Condition: The SPED entitlement grant fund is overspent on the ledger by approximately $120,000.
Cause: The grant budgets in the City’s general ledger did not properly reflect the amount available to spend.
Effect: The City has a deficit in its special revenue funds that must be funded from non-grant sources.
Questioned Costs: None
Repeat Finding from Prior Year: Yes; Finding 2021-002.
Recommendation: The School should implement reconciliation procedures to ensure that grants are not overspent. The City should transfer other surplus funds to the grant fund or raise the deficit as part of the next tax rate setting process.
Views of Responsible Official: Management agrees with the finding.