YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

The Board of Education held a goal setting meeting June 8-9, 2001, in St. Louis.  The meeting consisted of approximately three and one-half hours on the first day and three hours on the second day, separated by an overnight stay.  Six of the seven board members and four other district employees attended this meeting.  The costs for overnight lodging and conference room fees were approximately $1,500, and approximately $220 in additional costs were incurred by the district for meal and mileage reimbursements.  District personnel indicated the meeting was necessary at this location to accommodate the needs of four of the board members who had to be in St. Louis during this time.  Additionally, district personnel indicated the timing of this meeting was important to discuss goals for the upcoming school year.

While the importance of the meeting is not questioned, the costs related to holding such a meeting over a two-day period in St. Louis appears to be an unnecessary expenditure of public funds.

The budgets prepared by the district for the years ended June 30, 2002 and 2001, are not prepared in a format that allows for adequate comparison of budgeted and historical data.  The prior two years' actual revenues and expenditures are presented in a summarized manner with amounts for major categories, while the current year's budgeted amounts are presented in much greater detail by object code.  In addition, each year's actual or budgeted activity is presented on separate pages, making it more difficult to compare similar data.  This presentation makes it difficult to compare the current year's budgeted amounts with actual historical data from the previous years.

Annual financial statements are not published in the manner required by state law.  The district's published financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2001, presented only total receipts and disbursements for each fund and did not provide any receipt and disbursement categories as required.  State law requires that a summary statement of the district's audit report, including a statement of fund balances and receipts and disbursements by major classifications of each fund, be made and published in a newspaper within the county.

The district does not periodically solicit proposals for architectural services or legal services.  The district has used the services of the same architectural firm and the same two firms for legal services for several years.  While payments to the architectural firm totaled only approximately $2,300 for the year ended June 30, 2001, this firm has worked on several capital improvement projects for the district during the past few years.  The district spent $32,500 on legal services during the year ended June 30, 2001.  The district should periodically solicit and document proposals for architectural services and legal services.

The district has not been able to recover some costs of providing education to non-resident students.  The Division of Family Services (DFS) places non-resident children in group homes for troubled children which are located in the school district.  District officials indicated the DFS cannot identify the home school districts for many of these students, and therefore, the district cannot bill these students' home district for applicable tuition reimbursement.  The district estimates it could not bill approximately $21,000 for the 2000-2001 school year.  The district should continue to work with the DFS and other agencies to obtain tuition reimbursement for educating these non-resident students.

Complete Audit Report