Preparing for the New Year

Welcome to the December 2015 edition of the Auditor Express, a periodic e-newsletter showcasing the ways the Department of the Auditor General is helping to improve government accountability, transparency, and the effective use of taxpayer dollars.

This edition features a quick round-up of school-related issues from this fall. We look forward to 2016 and providing you with major performance audit reports on the Gaming Control Board, the Department of Aging’s oversight of PACE/PACENET, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Charter School payment appeals process, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and state oversight of the Electronic Benefit Transfer system, ChildLine, and nursing homes. In addition to conducting thousands of other audits of K-12 schools, along with state and local government operations, we will continue to review state funded institutions of higher education and work toward a key public safety audit.

In addition to conducting thousands of other audits of K-12 schools, along with state and local government operations, we will continue to review state- funded institutions of higher education and work toward a key public safety audit.

If you’d like to receive immediate updates on department activities, please like us on Facebook (Pennsylvania Auditor General) or follow us on Twitter (@PAAuditorGen).

I look forward to seeing you around the state and on the web!

 

Cost savings & efficiencies continue

Since I became Auditor General in 2013, ourinternal reforms spanned many areas of the department and are resulting in savings of $2 million every year.

Most notably, we cut our fleet of state-owned vehicles by 90 percent. Going from 241 cars when I took office to just 31 this month, combined with reducing other travel and transportation costs, saves $830,645 annually.

Charter school payment confusion

Few issues have been more prominent in Pennsylvania this season than the ongoing budget battle in Harrisburg. As the debate continues, an issue involving payments to charter schools created a heated situation for many of the state’s school districts.

Specifically, the budget impasse brought to light potential failures in the process the Department of Education uses to handle districts’ appeals of those payments. There’s more than $1.1 billion dollars on the line, and with hundreds of our schools struggling to keep the lights on, we don’t have a cent to spare.

Earlier this year, I publicly supported the state Treasury’s decision to stop PDE’s use of property tax relief funds to pay charter schools—while our other public schools struggled to stay afloat financially and keep their classroom doors open. We need legal clarity in this manner. Just days ago, my team announced it would be auditing that process. We’re working to make sure the system is fair, timely, and understandable.

Depending on what we find in this audit, we may have some additional recommendations to ensure that every dollar of education funding is helping students learn.

Coverage of this issue includes The Philadelphia Inquirer, Beaver County Times, and Philadelphia Public Record.

Auditing the Department of Education

One of the most widely-discussed reports my team released this season is our audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Education—and for good reason. We discovered 561 schools across the commonwealth that scored below passing in PDE’s rankings are not be receiving the support they need to help their students succeed. That’s 310,000 students whose futures are being compromised. This kind of news affects us all: parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers.

These abysmal conditions are the result of apathy and poor leadership—including a special advisor who received nearly $140,000 salary without showing any substantial work product. This is not how we should handle the future of our children.

This report was covered extensively by the media, including abc27, The Reading Eagle, and the Associated Press.

Bangor Area School District’s “no work” consultant

As always, a big part of my job is to call out financial waste when I see it—be it in a state agency, a volunteer firefighters’ relief association, or in this case, a school district.

In September we announced the findings of a school district audit in Northampton County, and the details of this report included one of the most egregious wastes of taxpayer money in the form of a $142,000 no-work consultant position in the Bangor Area School District.

My department is dedicated to shining a light on these types of arrangements, where officials are improperly using taxpayer funds. I will not tolerate this abuse of power—particularly when it comes to institutions that are supposed to educate our children.

Media outlets that covered this story include Lehigh Express-Times, WFMZ, andAllentown Morning Call.

Addressing concerns at Penn Hills

Earlier this fall, we launched an audit of the Penn Hills School District near Pittsburgh. My department heard parents’ and citizens’ concerns and complaints about serious financial and operational problems at the district—and we took action.

This audit will cover July 2012 through June 2015. My team and I will see if the district followed appropriate procedures, and if there was any wrongdoing, we will get to the bottom of it.

I look forward to sharing what we find with the people of Pennsylvania.

Our announcement made headlines in a number of Western PA media outlets, including KDKA, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, WTAE, and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.