Audit finds Tooele County School District underperforming; recommends governance, instructional changes

Audit Office presenters told the Legislative Audit Subcommittee that Tooele County School District needs significant improvement in student achievement and in governance and policy adherence.

The audit team said Tooele serves about 16,000 students with roughly 900 teachers and that about one quarter of students are economically disadvantaged. Darren Underwood, who presented for the audit office, summarized the audit’s central conclusion: “Tooele County School District is underperforming compared to state targets, state averages, and all but 1 of its peer districts.”

The audit’s nut graf: auditors recommended structural and procedural changes intended to refocus district leadership on raising student learning gains, tighten policy compliance, and improve coordination among instruction-related departments.

Auditors recommended that the district consider creating an assistant superintendent position dedicated to academics, adopt “excellence plans” at each grade level and establish board tracking of performance goals in those plans. “They all center around an assistant superintendent that is dedicated to academics,” Abigail Armstrong said when outlining recommendations tied to instruction and board oversight.

Chapter 2 of the report, the auditors said, focuses on board governance and policy oversight. The audit team reviewed a random sample of 100 job descriptions from 2019–2024 and reported that 75% of hires sampled did not have all paperwork required by district policy or the job description. Auditors described low staff morale as part of the root causes tied to compliance gaps, and recommended a board–superintendent plan to reverse a “culture of policy noncompliance.” Darren Underwood said the team used a culture survey and found morale concerns among teachers and administrators that correlate with compliance problems.

The audit also addressed school leadership and principalship. Auditors noted three existing district strategies to develop principals—an aspiring-leader “Leadership Academy,” provisional-principal training for first- to third-year principals, and professional development for area directors—and recommended aligning those programs more closely with school governance best practices and giving area directors greater involvement in training.

The financial chapter revisited prior findings about a vendor contract (OpenEd, formerly MyTech). Auditors reported that add-ons tied to student enrollment were not separately accounted for or clearly communicated to the board, producing misunderstandings about the district’s financial exposure when the contract was canceled in 2023. The audit reinforced a prior recommendation that LEAs separately account for funds received from contracts that vary by enrollment and avoid using such one‑time or variable funds for ongoing expenses. Underwood told the committee the audit team had presented the OpenEd work at interim and that the committee “chose to open a bill file to work with us and work together with USBE to find some solutions going forward.”

Tooele County School District Board President Melissa Rich and Superintendent Dr. Mark Ernst responded in the meeting. Rich said the district “welcomed” the audit and that the board can now “really focus in on student achievement.” Dr. Ernst described the audit team’s work as transparent and said district leaders look forward to implementing recommendations: “We will eradicate the weeds through the action steps outlined in our response while watering the flowers, the good things that are happening for our employees, and most importantly, for our students.”

Lawmakers moved to refer a systematic performance audit of Tooele County School District to the Education Interim Committee as lead and to the Public Education Appropriations Committee as review. President Adams made the motion; the committee voice-voted to approve it.

The audit materials and the district response indicate a mix of near-term operational fixes and longer-term structural changes aimed at improving student outcomes; auditors recommended follow-up and legislation in areas where statewide guidance or accounting practice could help.