Waterford School District

2021-001 ? Significant Deficiency and Noncompliance ? Special Tests Program information: COVID-19 Governor?s Emergency Education Relief (GEER), U.S. Department of Education, passed through Michigan Department of Education, AL #84.425C; COVID-19 Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Formula, U.S. Department of Education, passed through Michigan Department of Education, AL #84.425D; COVID-19 ESSER Education Equity, U.S. Department of Education, passed through Michigan Department of Education, AL #84.425D. Criteria: The School District has a responsibility to contact all private schools within the district that might have students eligible to participate Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) programs. In addition, the School District is required to contact private schools outside of the district if the School District has reason to believe students who reside the public school attendance area attend those schools. Condition: The School District did not contact private schools in the district to offer Education Stabilization Funds. Questioned costs: None Cause and effect: The School District did not have controls in place to ensure that Education Stabilization Funds were properly offered to private schools within the School District. Recommendation: The School District should implement controls to verify ESF funding is offered to private schools in the School District. The School District will need to verify they have an accurate list of the private schools and retain documentation that those schools were contacted, as well as their response. We recommend that certified mail receipts be retained for all letters sent to the private schools. Therefore, if a private school doesn?t respond to the letter this can be used as support that the letter was received and services were assumed denied in order to maintain compliance with federal requirements. Views of responsible officials: Management agrees with the finding. Corrective action plan: See attached corrective action plan.

Federal Award Findings Corrective Action Plan Finding Reference #: 2021-001 ? Significant Deficiency and Noncompliance ? Special Tests Name(s) of Contact Persons: Debra Cooper, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Corrective Action Plan: The District felt the guidance was not clear when applying for the Governor?s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) and Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds on the responsibility of providing equitable services to non-public/private schools under the CARES Act program. Based on auditor feedback, the District will notify by certified mail, offer, and initiate the consultation process with the officials of the non-public/private schools to determine if they want services. The District will confirm the list from Central Enrollment of non-public/private schools within the district that might have eligible students that want to participate in equitable services. The District will document the offer letter to the non-public/private schools with a certified mail receipt. If the non-public/private school declines to participate or does not respond to the good faith effort the services will be assumed denied. Anticipated Completion Date: December 31, 2021