Audit finds gaps in Caddo Parish School District asset records; staff ordered to report back in three months

The Caddo Parish School Board Audit Committee on Tuesday reviewed an internal audit that found missing, inconsistently tagged and duplicated district assets and weaknesses in inventory controls for both capitalized property and school technology.

The audit presentation, delivered by Kelly Oswald, the district's chief internal auditor, said the district maintains nearly 4,000 capitalized assets in its Business Plus system with a recorded combined value of about $238,000,000 as of Dec. 31. Oswald said capitalized assets are items recorded at more than $5,000 and that most technology items fall below that threshold and are tracked in a separate system, Incident IQ, implemented in 2021.

The audit recommended a series of fixes, including consolidating disparate inventory systems, standardizing tagging so all assets are scannable, automating transfer and salvage workflows, and creating a single written policy and consistent procedures for tagging, tracking and handling missing or excess assets. Oswald said a recent centralization effort and software conversion give the district a chance to correct long-standing inconsistencies.

Why it matters: District assets are public property held in trust for taxpayers. Inconsistent records make it difficult to locate equipment, verify purchases or salvage retired items, and they can obscure how federal, state and local funds are being used.

Key findings and examples: The audit team sampled schools and departments and reported missing or incomplete records, inconsistent tagging, assets left at closed campuses, and duplicated records that came from prior accounting systems. Oswald said newer purchases were less likely to have exceptions, but older records contained many errors. The audit team identified missing items in a sample from Stoner Hill Elementary — specifically, a smart board and a cafeteria steamer — though the committee could not determine whether those items were stolen or moved.

On technology, auditors found duplicated Chromebook counts, missing Chromebooks in inventories, and a split process for special-education technology that used Microsoft Access rather than Incident IQ, producing non-scannable tags for SPED assets. Oswald said general-fund and Title I tags are scannable and recommended SPED adopt the same tags and procedures.

Accountability and causes: Board member Don Little called the results "unacceptable," saying, "These are not our assets. These are assets that the public owns in trust by the school board." Little and others discussed whether inadequate training, decentralized practices, the move from purchase orders to procurement cards, and broad access to work-order systems have contributed to missing or poorly recorded assets. Former district staff in the meeting described situations where custodial or maintenance workflows bypassed principals and bookkeepers, creating gaps in inventory control.

District response and next steps: Superintendent Burton said staff has begun work to address the issues and "will come back to those on a regular basis." Auditors and staff described recent steps: consolidating systems, granting read-only access so technology staff can look up purchase orders, automating salvage workflows in Incident IQ, and assigning inventory specialists to verify school-level work. Oswald recommended schools assign a fixed-asset coordinator (a return to an earlier title) and simplify the stipend rubric so coordinators either meet inventory requirements or do not receive the stipend.

Formal action: Committee member Miss Little moved that staff report back to the board within three months on implementation of the auditor's recommendations, including which recommendations have been adopted and reasons for any not acted upon. Doctor Dozart seconded the motion; the committee voted and the motion passed.

Outstanding details and limits: Auditors said they could not quantify the total dollar value of all missing assets found in the sample. Oswald noted that many recently purchased items were correctly recorded, suggesting progress on newer procurements, but that historical records and closed-campus inventory still require cleanup. The audit also found only four schools had inventoried nearly 3,000 textbooks purchased with ESSER II funds, and recommended administrative policy updates for textbook inventory rules.

What to watch: The committee directed staff to return in three months with a detailed implementation update. Auditors and staff flagged several operational priorities for that update: completing consolidation of asset records into Incident IQ, making all asset tags scannable, completing inventories at closed campuses, updating policies (including the district's textbook policy), and presenting a clear plan for ongoing verification and enforcement.

(Reporting for the audit committee, the district's internal auditors included Kelly Oswald; senior accountant David Guy and auditors Candace Jonker and Amy Simon participated in field work. The committee hearing included comments from board members and a public speaker.)