Finding Text
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 There was a material weakness in internal control over compliance and noncompliance because we identified errors in the attendance reported to the CDE. Questioned Costs Not applicable. Context The District operates a 21 Century Program at ten schools. We selected a sample of five schools, and the condition applies to three of the sampled schools. The observed error rates were 6.9%, 1.2%, and 10.9%. Cause In response to prior audit findings, the District transitioned to a new attendance accounting system for the afterschool 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 afterschool program. Lessons learned from the year of implementation should be used to improve the process going forward. Views of Responsible Officials/Corrective Action Plan 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 consistent changes in attendance, OUSD began using Aeries Supplemental Attendance tracking instead of CitySpan in fall 2021. This transition has allowed the Expanded Learning Office to support struggling sites with real-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, and it we expect improved outcome during the fiscal year 2023.