Tolleson Union board accepts district annual audit, records one dissenting vote

The Tolleson Union High School District governing board on a roll-call vote accepted the district—s annual audit and accompanying single-audit compliance report, with one member voting no.

The board heard a presentation from business services staff summarizing the audit findings and the district—s corrective efforts. The presenter said auditors— testing across compliance categories produced a 93 percent success rate on sampled questions and a 94 percent subtotal success rate; he described several routine procurement and reporting errors that produced the findings and outlined steps the business office is taking to address them.

The presenter, identified in the meeting as Ken (staff member, Business Services), told the board that auditors test samples of transactions and that a single negative response can produce a finding. "You can see we scored a 93% total," he said, and he explained that some items were simple procedural lapses such as missing a timely email to a required recipient. He also described a procurement issue involving use of State Farm Stadium for graduations: "We had to do full procurement on State Farm Stadium for our graduation this year," he said.

Board members asked for clarification about whether minor timing issues could be flagged as findings. Ken said auditors evaluate internal controls and follow-up processes and that staff are required to document corrective steps when an after-the-fact transaction is found to be noncompliant. He noted the district has expanded training for administrative staff and added pre-audit review steps for procurement.

Several board members praised the business team for their work. "Ken, you and your team deserve a standing ovation," said Kathy (Board member). The board then moved to accept the audit; the roll-call vote recorded Dr. Luna Najera voting no, and Del Palacio, Ortega Romero, Chapman and Sun voting yes. The motion carried.

The presenter said the business office—s goal is to reduce findings year over year while balancing fiscal priorities: "Our goal is obviously to have 0 findings," he said, "but that sometimes is very difficult and sometimes to achieve that would mean that we might have to double the business department staff. We will never double the business department staff." He reiterated plans for training, pre-audit checks and corrective procedures.

The acceptance of the audit is a required annual action for the governing board; the acceptance does not equate to an audit opinion change. The meeting record includes the district—s full audit report and the single-audit compliance attachment.