Auditor urges oversight of fundraising

The Canfield district’s treasurer said she expects the audit to be the end of the matter.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — The state auditor’s office says the school district should tighten its oversight of fundraising for student activities.

There were no findings for recovery of funds in the state’s annual audit, released Monday. But the auditor’s office issued a management letter with recommendations for better accounting practices.

The district has already stopped a practice of allowing coaches to oversee money from fundraisers. A policy change in September 2006 now requires coaches to turn the money over to district treasurer Pattie Kesner.

This new policy is in line with the Ohio Revised Code, which says all employees of a school district should turn public money over to the district within one day if it’s more than $1,000. It should be turned over within three days if under $1,000, and the money can be stored in a safe place. Fundraiser money should be considered public money, according to auditor’s guidelines.

Booster clubs, which are set up as nonprofit corporations, are not considered part of the school district and can control money from their own fundraisers.

A group of parents tried for months to get an accounting of volleyball and girls softball fundraiser money from the district, said Tom Porter, one of those parents. The parents, including an accountant, had many questions when they did see records. The group, which is working with an attorney, turned its records and questions over to the state auditor’s office. That resulted in the investigation that led to the letter.

“We spent hours and days on responding to questions from the auditors,” Kesner said Wednesday. “There were countless hours and taxpayer money that went out the door,” she said, explaining that the district has to pay for the extra services.

She said that since there were no findings for recovery, “that should be the end of it.”

She referred other questions to schools Superintendent Dante Zambrini, who is on vacation and cannot be reached.

The dispute between the parents group and the district goes back almost two years.

Roni Haurin, who coaches volleyball and softball, had accounts set up at Farmers National Bank and oversaw those accounts. District administrators said that before the policy change, they considered Haurin and other coaches who controlled fundraiser accounts as being the same as booster organizations.

Porter said questions arose because a previous booster club for softball offered an accounting of its fundraiser money, and parents didn’t get a similar accounting from Haurin. The group wanted to see account records for volleyball from 2002, and for softball from the time she became head coach in March 2005.

Haurin chose to run her own fundraisers then, and the booster club disbanded.

The auditors went over the parents’ concerns point by point, said state auditor spokeswoman Emily Frazee. The management letter details some of their findings and makes recommendations.

“We found expenditures [and receipts] for several student activities were not included on the district’s books,” it says. “We recommend all district activity flow through the district’s books and all expenditures be paid by the treasurer.”

The letter notes that checks and cash were kept in the desk of a coach for periods longer than three business days. “We recommend that all deposits be made in accordance with Ohio Revised Code 9.38 and in accordance with the district’s policies,” it says.

The letter says that there was some ambiguity in identifying which student activity programs were student-district managed and which were nonschool organizations. “This can and did lead to activities that should have been recorded on the district’s books being left off.”

The letter said several expenditures for the softball team were made from volleyball funds. “This results in the girls volleyball team having less money that they should and the girls softball team using money to which they are not entitled,” it says.

The letter says coaches for summer camps were being paid by outside organizations and shouldn’t have been, and that several expenditures from the volleyball fund didn’t have any supporting documentation. “We also noted that cash was not always deposited to the volleyball account, but was instead used to pay for expenses as they would come up.

“This leads to district receipts and expenditures being understated on the district’s books and the district financial statements being inaccurate,” the letter says.

The letter recommends that all payments have proper documentation and that all money be deposited into the district’s bank account. “This will help ensure accountability and integrity in all programs that represent the district.”

Haurin, who is also a physical education teacher at C.H. Campbell Elementary, could not be reached to comment Wednesday.

Keith Roland, the attorney for the parents, said Wednesday he had not had a chance to review the audit or the letter.