Sumner District to Repay Special Education Funds (WA)

May 18, 2010

The Sumner School District must pay back $110,061 in federal and state special education funding, district spokeswoman A nn Cook said Monday.

A state auditor’s report issued Monday said the district mistakenly received too much Special Education Safety Net money during the 2008-09 school year.

The audit report said the district received a total of $221,154 in combined federal and state dollars through the program. But it said changes in enrollment, including one student’s complete withdrawal, resulted in overpayment to the district.

The auditor’s report cites $61,356 in overpayment of federal funds. Cook said state funds must also be repaid, bringing the total to $110,061.

School officials said in the report that their application for funds was accurate when it was submitted, but they acknowledged inadequate procedures for tracking students who qualified.

As a result of the auditor’s findings, the school district says it has begun re-training staff members who will submit and monitor future applications. Enrollment in Safety Net-funded programs will be tracked monthly, and the district will also recalculate needs at the end of the school year.

The Sumner district will contact the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to pay back the money, Cook said.

“We wouldn’t want to minimize it,” she said of the audit finding. “It wasn’t kept track of appropriately. We were surprised by the finding, and we have identified areas of improvement.”