ALTON COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #11

Equipment. The required capital outlay log amounts had several capital outlay line items that did not match the cost recorded in the general ledger. No questioned costs. The capital outlay log contains 18 lines of capital outlay purchases from the ESF funds. There were four line items where the amount did not agree to the cost recorded in the general ledger. The capital outlay log does not represent an accurate representation of the capital outlay costs of the ESF grant. The grant secretary entered the per unit cost on the log instead of the total cost of the purchase. It is recommended, at year end, that the District should compare the capital outlay log to the general ledger to ensure the costs match. The Director of Finance or designee will review all capital outlay logs and reconcile them to the general ledger before year-end. In addition, training will be provided to grant coordinators to ensure they are completing the log correctly.

Reporting. The District did not submit timely expenditure reports. The Illinois State Board of Education requires that expenditure reports be submitted on a quarterly basis 20 days after the quarter ends. No questioned costs. Of the 10 quarterly expenditure reports for fiscal year 2024 that were submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education for the IDEA Cluster, five were not filed by the required due date of 20 days after the quarter ends. Late filing of expenditure reports. Five expenditure reports for the IDEA Cluster were submitted after the due date. The District must submit timely quarterly expenditure reports to the Illinois State Board of Education. The District will submit timely periodic expenditure reports.

Period of Performance. Expenditures were reported in an incorrect quarter to the Illinois State Board of Education. No questioned costs. Of the 25 expenditures tested for the IDEA Cluster, two were reported in the June 30, 2024 expenditure report to the Illinois State Board of Education when they were incurred in a prior quarter of the fiscal year. The expenditures were reported on a quarterly expenditure report to the Illinois State Board of Education that did not match the quarter that the expenditure was incurred . The expenditure was applied to the grant via journal entry to the general ledger in the quarter ending June 30, 2024 when the expenditure had been incurred by the District in a prior quarter during the fiscal year. The District should report expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Education in the quarter that the expenditure is incurred. The District finance team will continue to monitor reporting by grant coordinators to ensure accurate reporting.

Reporting. The expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education do not match the general ledger detail. No questioned costs. The District reported expenditures totaling $1,099,218 for fiscal year 2024 for the ESSER 2 grant, but the general ledger only showed $1,099,021. The discrepancies were noted in function 1000 and object 100 of $176, and in function 1000 and object 200 of $21, totaling $197. The general ledger does not match the expenditure report filed with the Illinois State Board of Education for the functions and objects noted above. The District did not ensure the grant budget and the functions of the general ledger matched before processing grant expenditures. The expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education should match the general ledger of the District's accounting system by function and object. To ensure that expenditure reports and the general ledger detail match, the District will provide training for grant managers regarding coding all payments to match the ISBE budget detail for grant functions before processing payments.

Equipment/Real Property Management. The District's capital outlay log for the ESSER 3 grant did not reconcile back to the capital outlay 500 objects noted in the general ledger. No questioned costs. The District failed to include in its capital outlay log for ESSER 3 an item expensed in a 500 object that was over its capitalization threshhold of $5,000. Further, the dollar amount for another capital outlay expense included in the log did not match what was in the general ledger and reported to the Illinois State Board of Education. The capital outlay log for ESSER 3 was not completed correctly. The District inadvertently did not have its capital outlay log for ESSER 3 reconciled back to the general ledger. The District should follow its capitalization policy and further reconcile the capital outlay log for the ESSER 3 grant back to supporting documentation in the capital outlay 500 objects in the general ledger. The District finance department will work with grant coordinators through training and reconciling of capital outlay objects to ensure all items over the District threshold are logged and reported accurately.

Reporting. The District did not submit timely expenditure reports. The Illinois State Board of Education requires that expenditure reports be submitted on a quarterly basis 20 days after the quarter ends. No questioned costs. Of the 15 quarterly expenditure reports for fiscal year 2023 that were submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education for the Education Stabilization fund, one was not filed by the required due date of 20 days after the quarter ends. Late filing of expenditure reports. One expenditure report for the Education Stabilization Fund was submitted after the due date. The District must submit timely quarterly expenditure reports to the Illinois State Board of Education. The District will submit timely periodic expenditure reports.

Equipment/Real Property Management. The District included items in capital outlay objects in both the general ledger and Illinois State Board of Education expenditure reports that were below the District's capitalization threshold of $5,000. No questioned costs. Of the five Education Stablization Fund grants with expenditures in the fiscal year, one of the grants included items below the capitalization threshold of $5,000 in capital outlay objects. The District did not follow its capitalization threshold as outlined in its Fixed Asset Policy. This was an oversight by management and the grant coordinator. The District should only include items greater than its $5,000 capitalization threshold in capital outlay objects in its general ledger, budgets, and expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education. The District will ensure that all capital outlay costs exceed the $5,000 capitalization threshold.

Reporting. The expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education do not match the general ledger detail. No questioned costs. The District reported $260,000 of expenditures for COVID stipends and $8,150 for related benefits in function 2300 on its 6/30/2023 expenditure report to the Illinois State Board of Education, but the expenses were posted in function 1000 in the general ledger. The District also reported $5,811 in a 1000 object on its 6/30/2023 expenditure report to the Illinois State Board of Education, but the expense was posted in object 2000 in the general ledger. The general ledger does not match the expenditure report filed with the Illinois State Board of Education for the functions and objects noted above. The District did not ensure the grant budget and the functions of the general ledger matched before processing grant expenditures. The expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education should match the general ledger of the District's accounting system by function and object. To ensure that expenditure reports and the general ledger detail match, the District will provide training for grant managers regarding coding all payments to match the ISBE budget detail for grant functions before processing payments.

Reporting. The District did not submit timely expenditure reports. The Illinois State Board of Education requires that expenditure reports be submitted on a quarterly basis 20 days after the quarter ends. No questioned costs. Of the 17 quarterly expenditure reports for project year 2022 that were submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education for the Education Stabilization fund, 4 were not filed by the required due date of 20 days after the quarter ends. Late filing of expenditure reports. A few of the grants were extended without the knowledge of management and grant coordinators. Once there was knowledge of the extension, the expediture reports were completed. The District must submit timely quarterly expenditure reports to the Illinois State Board of Education. The District will submit timely periodic expenditure reports.

Equipment/Real Property Management. The District budgeted for and included items in capital outlay objects in both the general ledger and Illinois State Board of Education expenditure reports that were below the District's capitalization threshold of $5,000. No questioned costs. Of the three ESSER grants included in the Education Stabilization Fund cluster for project year 2022, two of the grants included items below the capitalization threshold of $5,000 in capital outlay objects. The District did not follow its capitalization threshold as outlined in its Fixed Asset Policy. This was an oversight by management and the grant coordinator. The District should only include items greater than its $5,000 capitalization threshold in capital outlay objects in its general ledger, budgets, and expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Education. Management and the grant coordinator added the total cost of the project instead of the individual cost of items ordered. The grant coordinator and management have discussed and created an action plan to ensure that the threshold is considered when ordering individual items that may exceed $5,000 in total, but fall short of that amount when considered individually. Accounts have been established for equipment falling below the $5,000 threshold.

Allowable Costs/Activities Allowed. Four employees were charged to the grant that were not included in the final budget amendment of the grant. Questioned costs of $698.01. Two teachers were charged to the grant when only one teacher was listed in the final budget amendment of the grant. Three employees were charged to the grant after replacing employees who left during the year, but these three employees were not included in the final budget amendment of the grant. The District charged salaries of four employees to a grant that was not approved in the final budget amendment by the Illinois State Board of Education. The District experienced turnover throughout the year and erroneously forgot to include the three employees in the final budget amendment of the grant. This District listed one teacher in the final budget amendment of the grant when two teachers were charged to the grant. The District must ensure that all employees charged to the grant are included in the final budget amendment of the grant. The District will ensure that any employee charged to the grant is included in the final budget amendment of the grant.

Reporting. The District did not submit timely expenditure reports. The Illinois State Board of Education requires that expenditure reports be submitted on a quarterly basis 20 days after the quarter ends. No questioned costs. Of the four project year 2021 quarterly expenditure reports required to be submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education for both Preschool and Part B Flor Through, one was filed 46 days late and thus not filed by the required due date of 20 days after the quarter ends. Late filing of expenditure reports. The expenditure reports were submitted to the financial director of the school district on the due dates. Discrepancies were found and the expenditures reports were returned to the grant coordinator. By the time the expenditure reports were corrected and submitted, they were late. The District must submit timely quarterly expenditure reports to the Illinois State Board of Education. The District will submit timely periodic expenditure reports.

Special Tests - In order to be eligible for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a school must have a minimum Identified Student percentage of 40% as of April 1 the year prior to implementing CEP. Identified Students are students approved as eligible for free meals who are not subject to verification. During testing of the CEP application, it was noted that a student was incorrectly included as an Identified Student. No questioned costs. The student that should not have been included as an Identified Student on the application did not cause the percentage to be less than 40% when that student is excluded from the calculation. 25 Identified Students were tested as part of the CEP application and 1 student was included in error. The inclusion of students as Identified Students that are ineligible could cause inflation of the Identified Student percentage used on the CEP application for free meals. The student incorrectly included was listed as "foster" on the Direct Certification spreadsheet. This student is not a foster child, but there is a foster child living at the student's address. Directly certified foster children do not provide an extension of benefits to other siblings in the household. The District should implement procedures to aid in double checking that students who are included on the Direct Certification upload are eligible students. The District will implement procedures to ensure only eligible students are included on the Direct Certification upload.

The District did not submit timely expenditure reports. This was also noted by Federal and State Monitoring. The Illinois State Board of Education requires that expenditure reports be submitted on a quarterly basis 20 days after the quarter ends.Of the four project year 2019 quarterly expenditure reports required to be submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education for both Preschool and Part B Flow Through, three were not filed by the required due date of 20 days after the quarter ends. Federal and State Monitoring noted that the June 30, 2018 for project year 2018 was also filed late. The expenditure reports were submitted to the financial director of the school district on the due dates. Discrepancies were found and the expenditure reports were returned to the grant coordinator. By the time the expenditure reports were corrected and submitted, they were late. We recommend that the grant recipient must submit timely quarterly expenditure reports to the Illinois State Board of Education.

There was no time and effort reporting documentation of the employees charged to the grant completed by the District. Of the 20 employees tested that were charged to instruction under the grant, no time and effort reporting documentation was maintained. The District failed to maintain adequate records to support the time and effort reporting documentation requirement of its employees charged to the grant. The grant coordinator did not realize that this was a requirement of the grant and failed to complete the required time and effort documentation. We recommend that the District must complete the time and effort reporting documentation requirement of its employees charged to the grant.

An employee was charged to the grant that was not included in the final budget amendment of the grant. Questioned costs of $435.46. An employee was included in the original grant budget and was charged to the grant. That employee was terminated and the grant coordinator removed her from the final budget amendment of the grant. The District charged an employee's salary to a grant that was not approved in the final budget amendment by the Illinois State Board of Education. The employee's salary was included in the orginal grant budget and was charged to the grant accordingly. The employee was terminated at a later date and the grant coordinator removed the employee from the final budget amendment rather than leave her budgeted for since her salary was charged to the grant while she worked for the District. We recommend that the District must ensure that all employees charged to the grant remain in all budget amendments of the grant.

The general ledger detail used as the basis for the disbursement request for the period 7/1/18-9/30/18 does not match the amount vouchered on 11/14/2018 for the period 7/1/18-9/30/18. Questioned costs of $4066. The general ledger detail for the period of 7/1/18-9/30/18 shows total expenditures of $131,030 which does not match the disbursement request for the period of 7/1/18-9/30/18 of $135,096. The District did not have adequate expenditures in its general ledger to support the disbursement request for the period 7/1/18-9/30/18. Journal entries needed to be made to the grant for the period 7/1/18-9/30/18 were found in December totaling $4,066. Once these journal entries were made to that period it caused the general ledger to no longer agree to the disbursement request for that period. We recommend that the District must ensure that it is reviewing the quarterly expenditure reports on a timely basis to find any journal entries needed so the general ledger will always support the expenditure report and disbursement request.

Federal and State Monitoring noted the District claimed unapproved mileage reimbursements totaling $457 under the Instructional Purchased Services budget cell category for travel activities performed by a staff that were unrelated to the grant. Questioned costs of $457. The District claimed unapproved mileage reimbursements totaling $457 under the Instructional Purchased Services budget cell category for travel activities performed by a staff that were unrelated to the grant. Expenditures were paid from the grant that were not allowable and/or did not support the program intent. The grant coordinator approved the reimbursement request without ensuring this was an allowable cost in the grant. We recommend that the District should have procedures in place to ensure that all grant expenditures are allowable and support the program intent.

Federal and State Monitoring noted that the District did not submit accurate expenditure reports. Questioned costs of $5155. The District's general ledger accounts and payroll ledger used in compiling the District's August 31, 2018 final expenditure report included salaries and benefits that were for fiscal year 2019 grant year. There were also incorrect postings to the general ledger accounts for salaries, benefits, and identified expenditures. The District did not submit accurate periodic expenditure reports. The grant coordinator did not reconcile the labor distribution report prior to filing the expenditure report. We recommend that the District should have procedures in place to ensure that all expenditure reports submitted are accurate and have been reviewed.

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