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Tuesday, December 23, 1997

Is program working? Auditor can't tell

By PEGGY FIKAC Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN (AP) - Is a program designed to help at-risk students stay in school doing the job? The state auditor said problems with the way information is gathered and calculated concerning the Communities in School program makes it impossible to tell.

The Texas Workforce Commission, which oversees the program, requested the audit and has either corrected or is working on problems it identified, agency spokesman David Beshear said Monday.

The program got $13.6 million in state and federal money in fiscal year 1997, which ended Aug. 31.

State Auditor Lawrence Alwin said in a letter to legislative leaders that his office wasn't able to assess the effectiveness of the program due to inadequacies in policies, procedures and systems.

"Specifically, we found that needed performance information is either not collected or not reliable," he said in the letter.

Because accuracy can't be ensured, Alwin added, the commission "is not able to determine if the Communities in Schools program is effective in accomplishing its main goal of helping at-risk students stay in school."

Agency officials believe the program is working properly but agree that mechanisms are necessary to verify that, Beshear said.

"We've worked with the state auditor to come up with this corrective action plan that we think will address the problems," he said. "Yes, we have housekeeping to clean up. We are serving the kids. ... I think we're being very effective in helping kids stay in school."

Among the auditor's other concerns:

- There are not adequate procedures to ensure fixed assets valued at $257,000 for fiscal year 1997 are properly accounted for and safeguarded. For example, three computers on the inventory list couldn't be located, the auditor said. inventory list couldn't be located, the auditor said. Beshear said two of the computers were found being used in other departments and he expects the other to be located as well.

- Controls aren't in place to ensure proper accounting of the program's operating expenditures. For example, the commission couldn't locate supporting documentation for a number of fiscal year 1996 program expenditures.

The agency requested the review after a 1996 internal audit found problems and management was changed, Beshear said. The Workforce Commission, responsible for distributing the funds to local Communities in Schools boards and monitoring the local program, took over the program in 1996, he said.

The program is designed to help at-risk students stay in school by connecting the youngsters and their families with community resources such as counseling, court advocacy, drug abuse programs, tutoring and job assistance.

In fiscal year 1997, there were about 31,000 students in the program being overseen by a case manager and more than 190,000 who participated in some aspect of the program, Beshear said.Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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