Federal audit finding at Pullman

A federal audit of the Pullman school district turned up a finding which questioned use of funds for the Special Education Safety Net program.

Public schools are reviewed by the federal auditors when they exceed $500,000 in funding from the federal government.

In a report taken from the Washington State auditor’s web site, the auditor’s office said the Pullman school district was provided $88,310 in Safety Net money, with $7,977 in state funds and $80,333 in federal funds.

The Safety Net program gives funding to educate specific special needs students when the cost to do so by the district exceeds the district’s resources.

“Districts apply for these awards mid-year, based on projections of expenditures and resources…We found the district overstated its demonstrated need for Safety Net money by $58,802 when it applied for the award. Further, the district did not comply with federal regulations requiring awards to be reduced or returned when actual revenues and expenditures for the school year differ significantly from the estimates on which the initial Safety Net award was based,” read several lines of the report.

The district hadn’t known it needed to report the unused amount by the end of the year, said Pullman executive director of support services Dan Hornfelt.

Colfax successfully passed its federal audit both last year and this year.

Business manager Reese Jenkin said Colfax largely exceeded the $500,000 limit because of recieving federal stimulus dollars due to the recession.

“Overall, everything went well,” Jenkin said.