Report 2016-109 Recommendation 5 Responses

Report 2016-109: Uniform Complaint Procedures: The California Department of Education's Inadequate Oversight Has Led to a Lack of Uniformity and Compliance in the Processing of Complaints and Appeals (Release Date: January 2017)

Recommendation #5 To: Education, Department of

To ensure that it consistently processes complaints and appeals in a timely manner and that it investigates and reviews all UCP complaints and appeals in compliance with state law and regulations, by July 2017 Education should designate a central office to receive all complaints and appeals. This central office should track the divisions' progress in processing complaints and appeals to ensure the divisions meet all UCP requirements, including documenting exceptional circumstances that constitute good cause for extending investigations beyond 60 days.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

Status unchanged: Education centralized tracking of all UCP complaints and appeals through a single database, with more than 80 percent of all complaints and appeals reporting to one Assistant General Counsel; however, it is not feasible to add the remaining disbursed staff within the department to receive, evaluate and distribute the remaining complaints and appeals, which are minimal in quantity. As such, Education considers this recommendation complete and no further updates will be provided.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Education states that it will not take further actions to implement our recommendation. Further, although it states that it has established a single centralized database, with more than 80 percent of all complaints and appeals reporting to one Assistant General Counsel, it did not provide any documentation to support its claim.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

Education centralized tracking of all UCP complaints and appeals through a single database, and reorganized the reporting of the two major UCP offices responsible for more than 80 percent of all complaints and appeals under one Assistant General Counsel; however, Education determined that it is not feasible to add the remaining disbursed staff within the department to receive, evaluate and distribute the remaining complaints and appeals, which are minimal in quantity. Although Education will not have a centralized office for all complaints and appeals, the tracking system and processes implemented resulted in an improvement of 73 percent of all complaints and appeals meeting the statutory 60-day timeline for a response as of December 2020.The remaining 27 percent were handled within the statutory exceptions process for delays that were either beyond the control of Education, including COVID-19 related school closures, or due to the complexity of the investigation or appeal. Additionally, the tracking system captures the "exceptional circumstances."

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2020

Education centralized tracking of all UCP complaints and appeals through a single database, and reorganized the reporting of the two major UCP offices responsible for more than 80 percent of all complaints and appeals under one senior manager; however, Education determined that it is not feasible to incorporate staff in other disparate and distinct programs, disbursed throughout different branches within the department, under the senior manager to receive, evaluate and distribute the remaining complaints and appeals, which are minimal in quantity. The centralized tracking system and processes implemented resulted in an improvement of 90 percent of all complaints and appeals being resolved within the statutory 60-day timeline for a response as of December 2019, and the remaining 10 percent being resolved within the statutory exceptions process for delays that were either beyond the control of Education or due to the complexity of the investigation or appeal. Additionally, the tracking system captures the "exceptional circumstances."

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2019

Education is establishing a central UCP office to receive and process all complaints and appeals to streamline the UCP process.

Once the centralized office is fully established, Education will be able to track the progress of all UCP complaints and appeals. In addition, Education added standard "exceptional circumstances" options to the centralized UCP database.

In April 2019, Education reported information related to extensions for good cause based on exceptional circumstances, in the mandated report to the Legislature.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018

This recommendation contains two separate corrective actions requiring an update response. Since Education continues to not concur with the first recommended corrective action, full resolution is unattainable. The first part of the recommendation from the CSA states that Education should designate a central office to receive all complaints and appeals. This recommendation is duplicated in recommendations 3 through 8. Specifically, Education does not concur with the CSA's determination that a central office would ensure consistent, timely responses in compliance with state laws and regulations for all UCP complaints and appeals. In fact, a central office would add time to the process in the beginning and the end as well as provide excessive administratively burdensome demands on staff who do not have the necessary expertise or familiarity for the complex programs covered under the UCP process. Also, Education would require additional resources in order to implement a dedicated centralized UCP office.

For the second part of the recommendation, Education is compiling the information related to extensions granted for good cause that are based on exceptional circumstances and will include this information in the mandated report to the Legislature in January 2019. Education will work with the program offices to develop standard "exceptional circumstances" options that will be added to the centralized UCP database.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

Education strengthened coordination within the department with the full implementation of a customized central database that tracks UCP complaints and appeals. The database has been fully operational since September 2017.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

Although Education states that it has developed a centralized database that can increase coordination within the department, this action alone does not address the point of this recommendation. Without a process to monitor the divisions' progress in processing complaints and appeals to ensure the divisions meet all UCP requirements, Education cannot ensure that it consistently processes complaints and appeals in a timely manner and that it investigates and reviews all UCP complaints and appeals in compliance with state law and regulations.

6-Month Agency Response

Education continues to not concur with the recommendation for the reasons set forth in our prior responses. However, Education purchased software (Time Matters by LexisNexis) and worked with an outside vendor to create a customized central database for tracking UCP complaints and appeals to ensure resolution in a timely manner. Training on the new database was conducted in July 2017, and it is anticipated that the database will be fully operational by September 2017.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Will Not Implement

Although Education states that it is developing a centralized database that can increase coordination within the department, this action alone does not address the point of this recommendation. Without a process to monitor the divisions' progress in processing complaints and appeals to ensure the divisions meet all UCP requirements, Education cannot ensure that it consistently processes complaints and appeals in a timely manner and that it investigates and reviews all UCP complaints and appeals in compliance with state law and regulations.

60-Day Agency Response

Education continues to not concur with the recommendation to designate a central office to receive all complaints and appeals for the reasons set forth in the response. However, Education is developing a centralized database that can increase coordination within the department.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Will Not Implement

Although Education states that it is developing a centralized database that can increase coordination within the department, this action alone does not address the point of this recommendation. Without a process to monitor the divisions' progress in processing complaints and appeals to ensure the divisions meet all UCP requirements, Education cannot ensure that it consistently processes complaints and appeals in a timely manner and that it investigates and reviews all UCP complaints and appeals in compliance with state law and regulations.

All Recommendations in 2016-109

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.