Report 2021-614 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2021-614: California Department of Education: It Needs to Provide Better Oversight to Ensure That Local Educational Agencies Promptly and Effectively Use Federal COVID‑19 Funds (Release Date: October 2021)

Recommendation #7 To: Education, Department of

To ensure that it monitors LEAs that may be at higher risk of misinterpreting spending requirements or misusing ESSER funds, Education should, when selecting LEAs for monitoring, use the data that LEAs submit to identify those that have reported significant amounts of spending of ESSER funds in the category of Other Activities.

Education continues to not concur with the CSA's recommendation to select LEAs for monitoring that have reported large amounts of spending in the "other activities" category. Specifically, Education does not believe that reporting large amounts of expenditures in this category is a valid indicator for misuse of funds, nor is there any evidence to support that it is.

Therefore, no further updates will be provided for this recommendation.

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

Education does not require LEAs to provide documentation to support the spending data they report. As a result, Education lacks assurance that LEAs actually use the Other Activities category for its intended purpose. As we state in the report, miscategorized spending hinders Education's and U.S. ED's ability to accurately evaluate how LEAs are spending the funds and what results to expect from such spending.

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All Recommendations in 2021-614

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.