Maryland officials are auditing Prince George’s County Public Schools’ finances to determine what progress the county has made since the state issued a scathing report more than five years ago. The Office of Legislative Audits uncovered a series of financial problems in the school system in 2006, and made 24 recommendations to fix issues in departments such as human resources and procurement.
“We want to find out exactly what’s been done to take corrective measures, and drill down even more to determine the effects of not doing the recommendations,” said Tim Brooks, director of performance audits for the state.
State Sen. Joanne Benson, D-Prince George’s, said she is concerned the latest audit will reveal the same mismanagement that was found six years ago. And until proper oversight is in place to monitor spending, it will be difficult for Prince George’s County officials to secure more school funds from the state, she said.
“We’re not willing to step up to the plate to ask for additional money for the school system when we don’t know where the money is going,” Benson said.
Prince George’s County’s officials went to bat for the schools in the General Assembly this spring, recovering about $14 million of $20 million in cuts proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley. But while a host of programs were saved, school officials cut about 1,300 teaching positions.
About two-thirds of the county’s budget, or $1.6 billion, will be spent on schools this year, roughly $13 million less than the previous fiscal year. School officials scheduled a hearing for Oct. 19 to discuss the budget for 2012-13, when enrollment is projected to decline again.
Superintendent William Hite, hired in 2009, acknowledged that some recommendations have not been followed, but said school officials are making significant strides in a difficult financial environment. Prince George’s recently won an award for excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association.
The 2006 audit was conducted after the General Assembly passed legislation requiring audits of school systems operating with a budget deficit. At the time, only Prince George’s County and Baltimore City public schools were examined. Now all 24 of the state’s school jurisdictions have been audited, Brooks said.
Hite welcomed the latest audit, which he said complements the annual audits the school conducts using an outside agency.
“If we had only implemented those recommendations, we would not be in the situation we’re in now,” Hite said.
The audit, which began in September, is expected to take six months, he said.
