Finding 961413 (2023-001)

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.