February 28, 2009

Cleburne ISD 2007-2008 Independent Audit Shows Severe Deficiencies

Cleburne ISD’s independent auditor’s report for 2007-2008 confirmed that the school has not cured the ills found by the Texas Education Agency. The auditor’s report was presented to the school board Monday, February 23 in an unusual daytime meeting which left most of the working public and two of the school board members unable to attend. Superintendent Dr. Ronny Beard had received the report earlier.

District officials have claimed publicly that they had corrected the lax accounting procedures practiced in previous years and uncovered by the Texas Education Agency’s partial examination of years 2003 – 2006. This independent audit by local firm Gilliam, Wharram & Co. revealed that accounting and control procedures are still deficient. The audit said that CISD did not qualify as low risk.

Mike Bailey, former financial officer who was in charge during the misspending uncovered by TEA and in 2007-2008, has repeatedly assured the School Board and administrators that these problems had been taken care of. Bailey’s contract was renewed recently for two more years. He currently draws around $461 per day.

TEA required this audit to be in their office on Friday, February 27. TEA has reserved the right to put the school back on “soft hold” of grant funds and take other actions if necessary.

Previous independent audits by the same firm of Gilliam & Wharram did not reveal any significant problems, even though TEA found many problems. This independent audit was in much greater depth than in previous years as a result of TEA findings. Cost of previous audits was around $30,000 per year. This audit cost three times that, or about $90,000.

Click here for the auditor’s summary of about ten pages, extracted from a 100 page report. For your convenience, we have highlighted in yellow significant areas of the summary. The complete audit is here.