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Oversight committee: QTEA parcel-tax audit finds no inappropriate spending, flags city administrative fee and urges restoration of final months of funding
Summary
The QTEA Oversight Committee told the San Francisco Board of Education that auditors found no evidence of inappropriate parcel-tax expenditures but noted $4.3 million allocated for district compensation and a $230,000-a-year city administrative fee. The committee recommended restoring the final six months of QTEA funds and highlighted investments in professional development, innovation and technology.
The Quality Teacher and Education Act Oversight Committee reported to the San Francisco Board of Education on April 22 that auditors found the parcel-tax fund to be essentially unqualified and that the district’s financial statements for QTEA were certified.
Michelle Parker, co-chair of the oversight committee, summarized the annual report and said the committee tested roughly $32 million of the roughly $36 million in parcel-tax receipts and found no inappropriate expenditures. The districtauditor told the board: “We did not find any matters or any issues that indicated inappropriate expenditures,” and noted a $4,300,000 allocation for compensation-related district support that the auditors consistently concluded could be a proper parcel-tax expenditure.
Why it matters: QTEA is a voter-approved parcel tax (passed in 2008) intended to support teacher quality, professional development and innovation. The committeesaid its role is to ensure those proceeds are spent for the ballot-approved purposes and to report transparently to voters.
The committee called attention to a recurring administrative fee charged by the City and County of San Francisco, described in the financial notes as approximately $220,000 to $230,000 annually, which covers the citytax-collection services for the parcel tax. "We thought it was important to be completely transparent with voters where every dollar was going," Parker said, urging staff to corroborate the calculation and rationale for that charge.
On programs and results, the oversight committee highlighted several uses of QTEA proceeds: - Professional development: QTEA supports 18 hours of PD and has taken on funding for PD days that previously had been cut; the Master Teacher Program is slated to expand from 16 to 40 teachers and move to full funding next year. - Innovation: About $900,000 is allocated to site innovation projects, coaching networks and instructional rounds; the committee described a $15,000 Impact and Innovation awards program that recognized 20 schools and said the award amounts will double next year to encourage scaling of promising practices. - Technology: Technology is among the largest QTEA line items (reported as ~13% of expenditures); since 2009 a little over $18 million has been spent on technology, including staff infrastructure to support devices and classroom wireless access.
Recommendations and next steps: The oversight report reiterated a prior recommendation that the district develop a plan to restore the final six months of QTEA funding that had been reapportioned in 2010 to retain positions during severe budget cuts. The committee said that restoring those months would be an accountability measure to the parcel-tax voters. The committee also expanded public-facing materials and noted its final meeting of the year on May 14.
Board response: Commissioners asked staff to provide additional backup documentation on the city administrative fee and to continue public reporting of QTEA expenditures and program impacts. The board thanked committee members for the audit work and oversight.
The oversight committeereport and the auditorspresentation are part of the districtpacket and available to the public; the board recorded no formal policy action on the recommendation the night of the presentation but staff agreed to follow up with requested clarifications and documentation.
