JLAC orders special audit of Tolleson Union High School District after public testimony alleging financial opacity, conflicts and safety lapses

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted unanimously on a roll call to direct the Office of the Auditor General to conduct a special audit of the Tolleson Union High School District. The motion calls for a comprehensive review of the district’s policies and practices on conflicts of interest, procurement, leasing and bond activity, transparency and public access to records, curriculum adoption and student proficiency monitoring, school safety and related uses of School Safety Grant funds.

The motion — approved by a roll call the hearing recorded as 9 ayes, 0 nays and 1 not voting — follows more than an hour of public testimony and committee discussion that included allegations from Citizens for School Accountability and detailed statements from a former Tolleson principal about financial decisions, contracting and student‑safety incidents.

“What happened to the $26,996,096 of the $55,023,242 remaining after the Isaac transfer?” Dave Briggs, a representative of Citizens for School Accountability, asked the committee in prepared remarks describing what he called opaque transfers and unexplained changes in the district’s budgeting and capital accounts.

Briggs summarized public documents and budget tables and told the committee that the district’s surplus figures in maintenance and operations (M&O) and capital accounts, a large transfer labeled as an Isaac lease buy‑back, and subsequent carried‑forward balances…