School District workers could use remedial accounting class

Monday, March 5, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Today's high school graduates, the complaint goes, can't handle money or even balance a checkbook.

It seems that some Clark County School District workers may be equally deficient when it comes to managing money.

Office managers have improperly dipped into campus money boxes to cash personal checks for teachers and staff, and money is missing from student activity funds, according to a Sun review of more than 100 school audits.

Most of the incidents involve amounts of less than $1,000. But there were some standouts.

At McMillan Elementary School, nearly $3,500 in profits could not be accounted for, following a cookie dough-sales fundraiser. And at Desert Pines High School, the student store was short at least $17,000, because of poor oversight, auditors found.

The school's banker, who is responsible for overseeing the campus' fiscal affairs, collected money from the store each day but the money was not reconciled with daily register receipts, the audit found.

"If the student store is being used to train students for the workforce and they are being shown how to use a cash register, they should be taught the proper procedures including balancing and/or investigating/explaining differences from the register tape and the cash turned in," the auditors concluded.

There have been some overall improvements since the previous year's audits. Schools are more accurately handling student-generated funds, and there were fewer problems with payroll accounts. For the 2006 fiscal year, 20 campuses out of 111 received "clean" audits, with all district policies and regulations being followed. In the prior year, six out of 109 campus audits were clean.

But some errors are still committed, including misuse of the district-issued purchasing cards. Auditors continue to find instances of "split transactions," in which the price of an item was divided into two invoices to circumvent the district's price limit for a single item. There also were more instances of incomplete receipts and funds that were not deposited in a timely manner.

"It's a continual process of training and monitoring, and with all the new people coming in there's sometimes a breakdown of people understanding the policies and regulations," Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said. "I'm more worried about money that disappears than some of the more routine issues that come up."

Monica Robles, director of internal audit for the district, said her staff tries to visit elementary schools every three years and secondary schools every 18 months to review campus procedures. Principals must provide corrective plans of action when problems are found.

The audits show the district is taking its fiscal responsibilities seriously, said Carole Villardo, president of the Nevada Taxpayers Association.

"They're not whitewashing anything," Villardo said. "We're seeing continuing improvement in oversight."

Since the auditors visited in June, Desert Pines has been assigned a new principal and oversight of the campus, which is struggling academically, was transferred to the education services division.

Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of education services, said there is no evidence of fraud or theft in the student store's shortfall. Rather, it appears that students received food from the store without being charged, and that because the store ordered too much food, some of it spoiled before it could be sold.

The investigation of the $17,000 deficit is ongoing and Goldman said the past problems won't be repeated.

"We're keeping tight control over there now," Goldman said.

McMillan Principal Robert Bennett said the missing cookie dough profits - which were to help pay for field trips - were never recovered and it is unknown when, how or by whom the money was taken.

Bennett said there are only three or four parents who volunteer regularly at his school, which means much of the burden for fundraisers falls on him and his staff.

"It's one more duty I'm involved with," Bennett said. "That's time I should be spending on instructional leadership."

Districtwide, the bulk of the financial accounting problems were blamed on carelessness and inattention to detail. Bank deposits were allowed to pile up, receipts weren't collected and auditors found petty cash improperly stored in unlocked desk drawers rather than in a school's safe.

Principals and other personnel receive training in handling school finances, and the district's business office provides ongoing support. But at some campuses, a shortage of support staff has secretaries, librarians and even translators pitching in to help manage the money, often in conflict with the district's recommended practices.

In a June audit, a review of Tartan Elementary School's books found nearly $1,000 missing from an account for its cookie dough fundraising project, and shoddy record-keeping for purchasing card transactions. Tartan was assigned a new office manager in August, and Principal Katharine Braegger said she subsequently asked auditors to follow up with a visit last month. While the findings were a significant improvement over the prior audit, there are still some kinks to be worked out, Braegger said.

Part of the problem, Braegger said, is that elementary schools are not provided bankers as part of the regular staff.

"You're asking an office manager, which is a glorified secretary, to be a banker, and that concerns me," Braegger said.

Rulffes said some of the elementary and middle schools would benefit from a banker, but the personnel wish list is already lengthy.

"We need counselors, elementary assistant principals, computer specialists, more school nurses," Rulffes said. "It's a competitive arena for dollars that are not available."