z45\doc\web\2000\08\audit.txt
David Blomstrom [GeoBear@geobop.com]


The worst job in the world has to be State Auditor in a state as corrupt as
Washington. And the worst assignment for an auditor in a state like
Washington would have to be auditing the state’s most corrupt school
district – just weeks before said auditor is up for re-election.


Today’s Seattle Times carries Part II of the Brian Sonntag-Seattle Schools
audit story, and it ain’t pretty. It appears to me that the auditor, school
district and media have all cooperated in putting a positive spin on what
may be a bottomless pit. But under my keen eyes, they’re just digging
themselves deeper.


Check out this deceptive statement:


“Seattle received federal support under the Emergency Immigrant Education
Program for 3,947 students. But when auditors reviewed the files of 20
students, they discovered that six were born in the United States and thus
were not eligible for the program.”


The casual reader might conclude that a total of six students received
unauthorized funds; big deal. But remember, that’s six out of just twenty.
If the ratio holds for all 3,947 students, that would add up to about 1,200
students! Isn’t it curious that the article doesn’t state whether they
continued auditing all the students or just stopped at twenty? It’s like
saying the auditors initially discovered $150 missing from a particular
program without mentioning that the total missing funds were $200,000.


And what was (and probably still is) the cause of the problem? Is this an
example of sloppy bookkeeping, or was the district deliberately milking
federal funds?


“The Auditor’s Office recommended that the state Office of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction work with the district to determine
the extent of the overpayment.”




Right, and then Terry Bergeson, Brian Sonntag, Supt. Joseph Olchefske, a
couple school attorneys, and the Seattle Times can work together to figure
out a way to create a paper trail that will make everything look sanitary.


“Lim said she did not know how much money Seattle received for immigrant
education.”


Huh???


Geri Lim is the school district’s chief financial officer. She was
disappointed the audit report contained so many problem areas, but she
noted that no problems were found in handling of the district’s largest
accounts. But did the State Auditor even examine the largest accounts?


“The district is not subject to any fines or penalties.”


Of course, not; no one ever holds them accountable.


“Auditors also found inadequate procedures for handling the $19 million the
district receives annually in local nontax cash revenues, including $2.5
million for breakfasts and lunches. Schools, departments and central
accounting failed to assign an independent person to verify that receipts
were properly deposited.”


Again, they also failed to ensure that school cafeterias were subjected to
health inspections, also. Where the hell are the cafeteria support personnel?


Here’s a new one: “Faulty cash-handling procedures led to the theft of
$1,899 in meal payments from a locked desk at Brighton Elementary School
between October 1999 and January 2000, auditors reported. The thefts were
not promptly detected, and the auditors were unable to determine who
committed the crimes.”


When they say the thefts weren’t promptly “detected,” do they mean they
weren’t promptly REPORTED? And was the theft reported at all before the
district was audited?


“Associated Student Body receipts were not properly handled. Receipt books
were missing, funds were not promptly deposited by teachers, and at three
schools receipts were not reconciled with the value of yearbooks or other
products sold. Dance tickets and yearbook receipts totaling $379 were
apparently not deposited at Rainier Beach High School.”


And the reader is left to assume that the money missing from the two other
schools was LESS than $379. (And, by the way, the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer reported the loss of more than $700 from dances and

yearbooks from Rainier Beach High School.)


“It was the third year in a row the Auditor’s Office pointed out the
student-body funds are subject to fraud or abuse. The school district
responded that improved procedures are being developed and that a fiscal
team will train people to handle student-body cash.”




After three years of fraud or abuse, the district is finally DEVELOPING
improved procedures and a fiscal training team.


“Imprest funds, or short-term advances to accounts, were not always

reimbursed or reconciled monthly as required.”


And how many instances are talking about? Half a dozen? Ten thousand?


“Employees working on federally funded programs were not required to
document their hours as required by the federal government.”



Hey, that reminds me of my last year working in Title I at Dearborn Park
Elementary. We were supposed to send our hours in regularly, but the
administration didn’t solicit them on one occasion, again repeating the
performance a second time. We then learned that the individual in charge of
tallying the hours had quit, followed by a second problem – I think their
replacement had quit as well.


“State Auditor Brian Sonntag said his office found no problems in some of
the largest accounts maintained by the 47,000-student district. The
district has have been ‘very constructive’ in seeking solutions to its
shortcomings, he said.”


I LOVE the term “very constructive.” What a clever way to remind the voters
that the district illegally diverts education levy dollars into school
officials’ pockets – and more than likely finds very constructive ways to
replace the funds, like diverting more money from the next levy (as
described in “The Olchefske Files”) or raiding the kids’ textbook fund.
Real cute.



“Some of the smaller accounts probably would not be audited in the
corporate world because they are too small to materially affect the
organization’s bottom line, Sonntag said. But smaller cash accounts are of
public concern, he said, because they involve public money and because they
are the most vulnerable to fraud.”


In other words, “We’re even more scrupulous than corporations, even
checking out funds that are almost too small to care about! What about the
$300,000 the district paid Principal Marta Cano-Hinz go into hiding? Why
that’s a PERSONNEL issue!”


Geri Lim said the district’s new fiscal-operations coordinator, Amy Fette,
will work with staff to resolve problems. I should have guessed they had a
new fiscal-operations coordinator. Every administrative position seems to
rotate twice a year.


I wish I had some volunteers to go down to Seattle Schools headquarters and
ask probing questions and collect information.




Reference: “Seattle schools’ recordkeeping faulted in audit,” Keith Ervin,
Seattle Times, August 3, 2000