State audit critical of Deer Valley school district
by Luke Hanagan

A performance audit of the Deer Valley Unified School District, released by the state Office of the Auditor General, is critical of the district in several areas.

Specifically, auditors took  exception to some of the districts’ spending and record keeping,

student transportation, and the number of administrative positions.

The audit, made public in December, examined six aspects of the district’s operations: administration, food service, student transportation, plant operation and maintenance, how tax dollars are spent, and the accuracy of records.

State law requires each school district undergo a performance audit, and DVUSD is the largest district to undergo such an examination. Districts are measured against other school districts of similar size.

Auditor questions regarding district finances centered primarily on record keeping for Proposition 301 monies, as well as classroom dollars.

Proposition 301, passed in November 2000, increased the state sales tax to provide additional educational resources. As a result, documentation of qualified expenditures is required. The audit states the district may have supplanted about $1 million that should have come from other monies–a finding the district denied in its response to the audit.

For classroom dollars, auditors had to adjust $4.6 million of the $179 million for coding errors. The end result was a downward adjustment of monies spent in the classroom to $3,374 per pupil– $291 less than comparable districts and $420 less than state average.

Auditor recommendations for the Prop 301 monies and classroom dollars are to implement more accurate record keeping and review spending to see if more dollars can be redirected to the classroom.

While DVUSD has three times as many square miles as districts in the comparison group, student transportation costs were significantly high enough to cause auditors to look at other factors.

Auditors found the district runs its buses at 53 percent capacity, has inefficient bus routes and also miscounted riders significantly. The resulting recommendation is to look at adding greater efficiency across the board in student transportation.

In addition, the audit found that DVUSD had a higher ratio of administrative staff to students than comparable districts. To achieve parity with the other districts, DVUSD would need to eliminate 24 administrative positions.

Governing Board President Christy Agosta, who has requested a study group within the board to address the audit and its recommendations, said the audit provides an opportunity for the district to improve and the board will be looking for input from departments across the district.

“Audits are always good because they point out things you can work on, and there are some good things in there,” Agosta said. “We need to sit down and have each department tell us where they stand today, what has already been addressed and what needs to still be addressed.”

A formal response from the district was included with the audit results and in it DVUSD states it agrees with and will look to implement the audit recommendations.