Thirty months later, Arizona lawmakers want answers about a Yuma district’s spending

(The Center Square) – A follow-up report to a Yuma-area school district performance audit has raised almost as much outrage as the development that first sparked the probe nearly three years earlier.

House Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee Rep. Matt Gress and House Education Chairwoman Rep. Beverly Pingerelli want answers from leaders in Gadsden Elementary School District as to why seven of the 13 findings outlined in the March 2020 examination of the system have still not been corrected. The report found the Gadsden District paid employees for time not worked, limited public access to some governing board meetings and spent $65,000 on unnecessary travel while lacking total oversight of its transportation program.

As recently as in July 2021, the state Auditor General pointed to fraud in the business office after finding that employees had “broad access” to undertake and complete payroll transactions without another employee reviewing and approving transactions. In one case, an employee was sentenced to three years probation after being accused of stealing around $8,000.

“Allowing this practice to continue some 30 months after they were caught is troubling,” Gress and Pingerelli said in a joint press release. “The audits from the Arizona Auditor General are consequential reviews and are not to be mocked with inaction. These audits are one of the few independent tools the Legislature has to measure efficiency, effectiveness, and legal compliance in the state’s largest annual investment, K-12 education. The Legislature, and the public, are due answers from Gadsden Elementary.”

Several calls to the Gadsden School District for comment by The Center Square were not returned.