Campbell-Savona Central School District – Student State Aid (2024M-79)

Issued Date

August 16, 2024

Audit Objective

Determine whether Campbell-Savona Central School District (District) officials properly claimed New York State (State) aid for special education and homeless students.

Key Findings

District officials did not properly claim a total of $65,953 in potential State aid for special education and homeless students, including $29,939 of potential aid the District will not receive because officials did not file claims within the filing timeframes. Specifically:

$57,176 in estimated State aid was not properly claimed by the District for four special education students.
$8,777 in potential State aid was not properly claimed for five students classified as homeless.

During our audit, we notified District officials that $40,940 of the $65,953 in potential State aid could still be claimed, including:

$30,826 if submitted prior to June 30, 2024. Although District officials told us they intended to submit reimbursement claims for the full amount before the deadline, only $25,900 was submitted; the remaining $4,926 is no longer eligible.
$10,114 if submitted prior to June 30, 2025.

Because District officials did not provide proper oversight or establish procedures for claiming special education public placement and homeless students, or submit for all aid identified by this audit, the District did not receive all aid it was entitled to.

Key Recommendations

The audit report includes eight recommendations to help District officials improve their practices over State aid for special education and homeless students.

District officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated they will take corrective action.

Audit Period

July 1, 2020 – March 31, 2024

Background

The District serves the Towns of Addison, Bath, Bradford, Cameron, Campbell, Erwin and Thurston in Steuben County.

The District is governed by a seven-member Board of Education (Board) responsible for managing and controlling the District’s financial and educational affairs. The Superintendent of Schools (Superintendent) is the chief executive officer and is responsible, along with the Director of Management and other administrative staff, for the District’s day-to-day management under the Board’s direction.

The Director for Special Education (Director) is responsible for preparing and submitting State aid claims for reimbursement for special education students.

The Homeless Liaison (Liaison) is responsible for identifying homeless or transient status students as they move in and out of the District, tracking when they are placed into temporary and permanent housing, and submitting State aid claims for reimbursement for homeless students.