Audit praises Alpine schools’ strategic plan and administrator training, urges focus on achievement gaps and campus security

Auditors reviewing Alpine School District told the Legislative Audit Committee that the district achieves above‑average proficiency but should target persistent achievement gaps, clarify bullying and safety policies where campuses share public space, and tighten some financial reporting conventions.

Darren Underwood and Lindsay James of the Office of the Legislative Auditor General presented findings from the systematic LEA audit of Utah’s largest district. The report commended Alpine for district‑level focus and implementation of a strategic plan (the district’s “coherence map”) and for administrator mentoring and professional learning communities. “We think that it is imperative that we look to school administrators and teachers to find what is happening best and then replicate that where we can,” auditors said.

Why it matters: Alpine serves tens of thousands of students across many schools; auditors said replicating school practices that narrow gaps could improve outcomes across the district and that improvements in signage and school‑municipality agreements can reduce safety exposures at campuses that open onto public parks.

Key findings and recommendations: Auditors found (1) Alpine outperforms peer districts in proficiency but still falls short of legislative targets in some subjects; (2) some schools show narrower achievement gaps while others remain wide — auditors recommended analyzing causes and setting targeted school goals; (3) administrator mentoring and professional learning communities are strengths that should be expanded; (4) five campuses had open access to adjacent public parks and auditors recommended district‑level coordination with municipalities to secure those sites; and (5) payroll reporting uses inconsistent job title conventions across districts and auditors suggested common naming conventions and shared financial reporting between USBE and the State Auditor to improve transparency.

District response: Superintendent Shane Farnsworth and Board President Julie King said they welcome the audit and agree with its recommendations. Farnsworth highlighted a district multilingual task force that supports schools with rising multilingual populations and said targeted interventions can yield double‑digit percentage gains at schools that implement best practices. Board President King emphasized the district’s focus on continuous improvement and said the audit provides a useful baseline as Alpine prepares to split into three districts.

Outcome and follow up: President Adams moved to refer the systematic audit of Alpine School District to the Education Interim Committee as the lead committee and to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee as the review committee; the committee approved the referral by voice vote. Auditors recommended the Legislature consider aligning payroll reporting conventions and directed the Audit Office to follow up on implementation of school‑safety and strategic‑plan recommendations.

Ending: Alpine officials said they will use the audit’s findings to inform the transition planning for the district split and to scale effective school practices.