Audit finds few problems with CCSD

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

The Clark County School District's operations received generally high marks in a legislative audit released Thursday although recommendations were made for improving oversight in several areas, including employee health funds, food services and the energy conservation program.

The district's "financial and administrative operations compare favorable to other states' best practices and peer districts," concluded the Legislative Counsel Bureau's auditors.

"Overall the district fared very well," said Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, a member of the Legislative Commission's Audit Subcommittee, which reviewed the report at its meeting Thursday.

"By and large there were no controversial questions raised. There were plenty of recommendations for improvements but that's what you should expect from a comprehensive, thorough audit."

Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations for the district, said he was pleased by the "scope and balance" of the report.

"We were anxious about the audit, but we never feared it," Rulffes said. "Lawmakers and taxpayers should feel encouraged that they are getting good value for their money. We hope our critics will consider this information in their analysis of our school district and perhaps reconsider some of their earlier opinions."

One of the auditors' recommendations was that the district increase its oversight of the Teachers Health Trust, which provides medical coverage to Clark County educators and is funded by contributions from the district.

While the Teachers Health Trust conducts its own independent audits annually, it is not required to share the findings with the district. The auditors also stated the district has the authority to ask the state insurance commissioner to review the trust and to negotiate with the teachers' union for greater access to the trust's financial records.

Peter Alpert, chief executive officer of the Teachers Health Trust, said Thursday his organization has voluntarily supplied its audit reports to the district during contract negotiations and also furnished copies when asked to do so by state agencies.

The district's administrative expenses, a frequent target of critics and the subject of two bill draft requests by lawmakers seeking to trim excess, were rated favorably by the auditors.

When compared to five similar districts in other states, including Broward County, Fla., and San Diego, Clark County had the third lowest administrative costs per student in 2002, at $782. Of every dollar spent by the district in 2002, 61.7 percent went to classroom expenditures such as personnel, benefits and supplies, again ranking Clark County in third place.

Clark County Schools Superintendent Carlos Garcia said he was hopeful the favorable audit would help pave the way for an increase in state funding for public education, particularly some of the programs proposed in the $646 million iNVest '05 plan being pushed by the state's 17 school districts.

"Hopefully the hard numbers will dispel some of the myths about how we're doing," Garcia said. "We never want to be misunderstood, but especially not going into a legislative session."

Among the auditors' other findings:

The U.S. Department of Education prohibits local school food services departments from having more cash resources than is needed for three months of operations, $17 million in Clark County. At one point the district had exceeded that threshold by $9 million, resulting in a warning letter from federal education officials.

The district's conservation efforts in 2002 exceeded its predictions, requiring that only $700,000 of the allocation to be drawn down. Instead of returning the remaining $2.9 million to the state, the district carried the funds over to the following fiscal year and was able to justify the need for the total allocation to the state. However, the auditors said, a resolution by the Interim Finance Committee stated that any excesses at the end of the 2003 fiscal year should have been returned to the state's general fund.

To help offset transportation costs the district should consider implementing an activities fee, the auditors said, which could yield over $400,000 annually.

Charging students a fee to participate in athletics and other extracurricular activities has been raised in the past with lukewarm support from the public and School Board members.

Louis Overstreet, executive director of the Urban Chamber of Commerce and a frequent critic of the district's management, said many of the auditors' findings were a validation.

"The maintenance department, the administrator vehicles, we've been harping on some of these issues for years," Overstreet said. "I'd be happier if I knew the data provided by district (for the audit) had been independently verified for accuracy."