ODE Performance Audit - The Truth!

Obtain a copy of the most recent(May 08) Ohio Department of Education(ODE) Performance Audit of the Anthony Wayne School District(AWSD). You can obtain a copy from the AW Treasurer for a minimal copy charge of around $5. Within this audit you will find over 100 pages of detailed items regarding fiscal mismanagement and lack of accountability by the Board and Administrators. Page after page of insufficient budget processes and the lack of fiscal accountability. Don't take my word for it as a past Budget and Accounting Manager. Read it and judge for yourself. It explains in detail the lack of proper accountability from school bus purchases, to Human Resources, to capital expenditures and the contracting out of these, to purchasing authority, to competitive procurement practices, to wages and salaries. In regards to ODE fiscal caution status the Superintendent continues to mislead the tax payers. Originally he stated that in order to be removed from fiscal caution, new money in the form of a levy passage was required. This is false according to the ODE Auditor AND the AW Treasurer. When brought to the attention of the AW Treasurer, she stated that she would suggest to the Superintendent that he no longer use this statement. Most recently the Superintendent is now stating that the AWSD does not have the 2% carryover in their budget in order to be removed from fiscal caution. He is correct in stating that part of the requirement is a 2% carryover, BUT according to the AW Treasurer when asked, she stated that the AWSD has met this requirement months ago. I could go on, but whether you plan on voting Yes or No, you owe it to yourself to become educated with the facts from reading this Performance Audit. I will leave with a few quotes from this audit. "AW LSD has almost four times the monitor staff as the peer district average, ..."; AW LSD has more clerical staff per 1,000 students....than the peer average."; "Reducing staffing......would save the District to approximately $800,000....and bring it in line with peer district staffing levels."; "....history of poor quality forecasts."; "revise Treasure's forecast to include revenue from new commercial/industrial construction. ....will result in approximately $800,000 annually in additional revenue."; AND LASTLY "...poor forecast assumption and analysis errors pointed to the need of additional revenues, when in fact, the District was in much better financial condition than predicted." Yes, you read the quote correctly. Due to the extremely poor forecasting practices in place, AWSD has placed levies on the ballot requesting additional funding when in fact they do NOT need the money. ALL according to the ODE Audit findings.