The Observation Deck

Lakewood Schools Reaches Agreement For State Audit

A letter has been received from Mary Taylor CPA, Auditor of State, to create a review and independent audit for a whole group of items including; staffing levels, collective bargaining provisions, and leave use in an effort to ensure efficient and effective services.

The "Project" will be handled by the Auditor of State's office, which has to date complete 205 released audits resulting in more than 11,000 recommendations, and more than $1 billion in potential savings.

The cost of the "Project" will not exceed $10,900 which includes travel, telephones, and other things. But is dependent on the availability of key staff members and district staff for cooperation and providing information and review comments to the team. The $10,900 maximum will be invoiced periodically to the District as hours are accumulated by the Auditor of State’s office, and the Board voted to pay for it from funds it has on account with the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County for purposes such as this.

School Board Vice President and past president Ed Favre has been pushing for school staffing audit from the State of Ohio. At last night's board meeting, things were finally put in place for the audit.

More to follow.

Jim,

Ed and I have been pushing for an independent staffing analysis since January of 2008. It is our hope that this independent analysis will highlight the good work that the Lakewood City School District Board of Education has done in protecting the public coffers, as well as areas in which the Lakewood City Schools can improve upon.

Treasurer Rick Berdine presented a very tight five year forecast at last night’s regular school board meeting and should be commended for his fiscal prudence.

Matt

That is an extremely low cost for that big an audit.

Good luck and hope it brings the results you all desire.

It is a very reasonable fee for the work to be done. Through its experience with larger performance audits around Ohio, the State Auditor's Office has developed considerable expertise in this area. We believe it will give us an unbiased, objective view of our staffing. Since personnel costs represent 80% of the District's budget, we to insure that resource is right-sized and well deployed.