In May 2020, the Arizona Auditor General’s office conducted a performance audit of the Gadsden Elementary School District, and found that the District paid employees for “time not worked, limited public access to some Governing Board meetings and wasted $65,000 on unnecessary travel, among other failures.”
In response to the Auditor General’s 30-month follow-up report issued in March, Arizona State House Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, Rep. Matt Gress, and House Education Chairwoman Rep. Beverly Pingerelli have questions.
The lawmakers called the report, which found that the District failed to implement over half of the recommendations made by the auditors, “troubling.”
Specifically, the follow-up report shows the school district has yet to correct what the lawmakers say are “several glaring accountability features” which directly led to previous fraud in the district.
In July 2021, the Arizona Auditor General reported fraud in the business office because employees had “broad access” to initiate and complete payroll transactions without another employee reviewing and approving transactions. This basic lack of financial accountability led to one employee stealing roughly $8,000 before being caught. The employee was sentenced to three years probation.
“Allowing this practice to continue some 30 months after they were caught is troubling,” said Gress and Pingerelli in a joint press release. “The audits from the Arizona Auditor General are consequential reviews and are not to be mocked with inaction. These audits are one of the few independent tools the Legislature has to measure efficiency, effectiveness, and legal compliance in the state’s largest annual investment, K-12 education. The Legislature, and the public, are due answers from Gadsden Elementary.”