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Audit finds inconsistent student fees across high schools; auditors call for standard templates and clearer monitoring
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Summary
A contracted audit of Atlanta Public Schools’ 2024 extracurricular fees for football and cheerleading found wide variation in how fees are set and tracked across nine high schools and issued four findings — including one high-priority discrepancy — recommending standardized procedures, monitoring and clearer communication to parents.
Bailey Kaul Wu, manager at Plante Moran, told the Atlanta Public Schools audit committee on March 19 that the firm’s audit of 2024 student extracurricular fees (January–December 2024) found four formal findings, including one high-priority issue and three moderate ones.
"Overall, we had 4 findings," Bailey said, summarizing the team’s conclusions about how football and cheerleading fees were determined and tracked in nine high schools. The audit focused on how fees were calculated, how collected funds were monitored and whether parents received clear documentation.
The auditors said they found: an absence of standardized processes for setting fees; insufficient monitoring of how those fees were spent at some schools; missing or inconsistent documentation that explains fee components to parents; and specific discrepancies including an unallocated portion of a fee at one school and the improper inclusion of a mandatory booster-club charge in a cheerleading fee at another. The report recommended district-level standard operating procedures, a template for documenting fee components, independent monitoring or sample expense reviews by principals or athletic directors, and clearer itemized disclosures to families.
Katrina Bloodworth, executive director of internal audit for Atlanta Public Schools, said the audit team and the internal office will follow up with corrective-action plans and recurring school audits: "We will continue to provide additional updates as we move forward." She also noted staffing increases in internal audit that will support follow-ups: "We have hired almost a full team of auditors," she said.
Board members and staff pressed auditors on scope and materiality. Earl Fagan asked whether the two activities and nine-school sample represented a material portion of extracurricular spending; auditors said football and cheerleading were among the highest-dollar activities and that the scoping used a risk-based approach agreed with prior executive leadership and offered to provide quantitative coverage percentages after reviewing the scoping documents.
The committee discussed equity concerns. Dr. Kim Zev, the newly elected audit committee chair, said the information should be used to improve transparency and confidence in the system. Multiple board members asked that any standardized methodology preserve reasonable school-level flexibility while reducing the likelihood that fees become a participation gatekeeper for students without booster support.
Athletics staff gave context for variability. Rendell Jackson, an assistant athletic director, described how schools follow finance office procedures for collecting funds and avoid commingling booster funds; Coach Goodwin said community priorities and school culture drive different spending choices but added, "No kid is denied an opportunity to participate." Both athletics staff and auditors said competition-related costs (multiple uniforms, travel, competition fees) can explain some, but not all, of the variance.
Next steps: Bloodworth said the full audit report will be published online and that the office will reconcile open corrective-action items (some of which may change when a new ERP goes live in July 2026). The committee asked staff to return with corrective-action plans and results from the recurring miscellaneous-cash-activity audits that will examine collection and distribution practices.
The audit’s recommendations to establish standardized templates, independent monitoring steps and clearer parental disclosures were presented as the primary tools to address the committee’s equity and transparency concerns. The committee did not vote on policy changes at the meeting; members directed staff to pursue follow-up audits and corrective-action tracking.
