Southtowns Record

Lackawanna City School District - Tuition (2019M-59)

Government
Lackawanna City School District
Posted by publisher
Jun 7, 2019
Kind
State audit
Topics
Audits and oversight, Budget and taxes

Publisher's summary

School districts are required to pay tuition for resident students attending charter schools or receiving special education services from other public or private schools. We recalculated tuition costs and full-time equivalents (FTEs) using attendance records for charter school students and special education students' individualized education programs (IEPs) to verify that the District was billed for the correct services and frequency. We found that tuition was incorrectly calculated for nine students. The District was overbilled $5,300 for eight charter school students. The billing school used the correct rate for those students but used the incorrect FTE to calculate the tuition, resulting in overbilling. Additionally, the District was underbilled by a private school $900 for one special education student. The billing school used the incorrect rate when calculating tuition. We also found that the District did not have adequate and up-to-date residency information to support tuition charges totaling $2.5 million for 162 students (77 percent) attending charter schools and other public or private schools. The District had no registration or residency information on file for 44 of these students and registration information that was out-of-date and/or incomplete for the remaining 118 students.

Original document

Text · page 3 of 11

Report Highlights
 Lackawanna City School District

Audit Objective
  Background
Determine whether tuition payments were accurate and
supported.  The Lackawanna City School
  District (District) serves the City
Key Findings  of Lackawanna in Erie County.
  The District is governed by a
  ll District officials did not review tuition charges for  seven-member elected Board of
  accuracy. As a result, the District was incorrectly billed  Education (Board). The Board
  for nine students, resulting in overpayments totaling  is responsible for the District’s
  $5,300 for eight students and an underpayment of  overall management, financial and
  $900 for one student.  educational affairs.
  ll The District did not have adequate and up-to-date
  The Assistant Superintendent of
  residency information to support tuition charges
  Administrative Services (Assistant
  totaling $2.5 million for 162 students attending charter
  Superintendent) oversees the
  schools.
  District’s day-to-day financial
  operations and supervises
Key Recommendations  Business Office personnel. The
  Board-appointed claims auditor
  ll Review tuition invoices to ensure charges are
  is responsible for examining all
  calculated correctly and supported.
  claims or demands against the
  ll Address and resolve identified billing errors.  District and has the authority to
  ll Request updated proof of residency periodically to
  authorize or reject payment.
  verify the District is properly billed.
  Quick Facts
District officials agreed with our recommendations and
  Students  1,900
indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.
  Students attending
  other public or charter  843
  schools
  2018-19 General Fund
  $53.3 million
  Budget
  2017-18 Tuition
  $11.8 million
  Payments

  Audit Period
  July 1, 2016 – January 2, 2019

  Our audit testing primarily focused
  on the 2017-18 school year.

  Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller  1