First State Times

DOVER, Del. – State Auditor Kathy McGuiness announced today the upcoming release of 19 new performance audits reviewing school district local funds.

“You may have noticed, a lot of our work at the Auditor’s Office concerns school-related audits. This time, we’re releasing 19 performance audits reviewing our school districts’ local funds,” said Auditor McGuiness.

These performance audits were conducted in accordance with 29 Del. C., §2906 and Delaware Code explains the State Auditor is to conduct post-audits of local school district tax funds budgets and expenditures.

“To put it simply, school districts and vocational-technical school districts can levy and collect additional taxes for school purposes based on the assessed value of real estate in the district,” said Auditor McGuiness. “These performance audits review those real estate taxes or “local funds” to determine if school districts are compliant with the relevant rules and requirements over these important funds,” explained Auditor McGuiness.

The 19 School District Local Funds Performance Audits had four objectives:

1. School district internal controls over the expenditure of Local Funds were designed and operated based on requirements in the Delaware Code, State of Delaware Administrative Code, State of Delaware Budget and Accounting Policy Manual, School District Accounting Policies, and the School District Budget.
2. The school district’s internal controls over the receipt of Local Funds were designed and operated in accordance with the requirements.
3. The school district’s real estate taxes were approved and calculated in accordance with the requirements.
4. The school’s district’s tuition tax funds were calculated and spent in accordance with the requirements.

“We are excited to release the remaining 17 the coming weeks. People want to know if these funds are being calculated and used appropriately, and we’re here to keep providing Delawareans insight into their state government,” said Auditor McGuiness.

You can find the first two releases, “Caesar Rodney School District Local Funds Performance Audit For Year Ended June 30, 2021” and “Milford School District Local Funds Performance Audit For Year Ended June 30, 2021” here.

Learn about the Delaware Auditor’s Office at https://auditor.delaware.gov.

Original source can be found here.