Finding Text
2022-007 Special Provisions Testing ? Annual Report Card Federal agency: U.S. Department of Education Federal Program Title: Title I, Part A Assistance Listing Number: 84.010 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: N/A Pass-Through Agency: New Mexico Public Education Department Pass-Through Number(s): 24101 Award Period: July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022 Type of Finding: ? Significant deficiency in internal control over compliance, other matter Criteria or specific requirement: Per ESEA section 8101(23)(B) - To remove a student from a cohort, a school or local educational agency shall require documentation, or obtain documentation from the State educational agency, to confirm that the student has transferred out, emigrated to another country, or transferred to a prison or juvenile facility, or is deceased. Condition: During our audit of the Title I, Part A program, we noted the following: ? Out of 20 student removals from the cohort tested, six removals were not supported by appropriate written documentation and were thus inappropriately removed from the cohort. Questioned costs: None. Context: See ?Condition.? Cause: Management oversight. Effect: Noncompliance with applicable grant regulations and District Policy Recommendation: We recommend providing training to school sites to ensure personnel who are responsible for obtaining appropriate documentation for changes to a student file that result in removal from the cohort are aware of the requirement. Views of responsible officials: Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) uses the NM Graduation Technical Manual to guide expectations and processes for graduation cohort review for all schools. The District currently supports each registrar with live data dashboards to monitor students who have withdrawn across which includes the NM State code. The LCPS Information Operations Department, who over sees STARS collections, meets with all registrars yearly to review the dashboards, review the NM graduation Technical Manual, along with all internal process of where the documentation needs to occur. After findings from the audit, the following will be added to our process.