EV School District Tightens Purse Strings After Audit

In the year since state auditors determined that East Valley School District officials were spending too much money to eat in local restaurants, the district has cut in half the dollars spent on meals.

EV board members and employees have stashed their school district credit cards in a vault, and the district now requires detailed receipts on meals.

A 1995 state audit determined the district had spent $6,000 on meals, without sufficient accounting control over the spending.

In response, said East Valley business manager Tom Crouch, the district cut down on spending for meals and created a formal travel and meals expense policy.

Monthly administrative meetings at 6:30 a.m. used to include breakfasts that routinely were charged to the district.

“That’s changed. We throw in our own money now,” Crouch said. The same is true of late afternoon budget sessions that drag on into the dinner hour. Where once pizza on the district was the norm, employees now put their own money in the pot.

In the past year, the school district spent $3,000 on restaurant meals.

The district policy on meals reimbursement reads in part: “Under circumstances where the district is deriving benefit from staff members and others participating in business of the district, payment may be made for those persons’ food and beverages.”

Credit cards remain available for use by board members or staff who travel on district business.

“But we cut up a lot of them. And the others are in the vault,” Crouch said. “The state didn’t like the idea of all those credit cards floating around out there.” Previously, each board member and some staffers had their own district credit card.

The state auditor noted this year that at times the school district was still unable to produce adequate documentation for meal expenses.

That stemmed in part from the format of credit card receipts, Crouch said. The state wants to document that the district’s money is spent specifically on food.

“I think they’re trying to prove there is no alcohol use,” Crouch said.

This year’s audit noted deficiencies in personnel records and associated student body funds accounting, yet also noted that East Valley is on track with improvements in those areas.

, DataTimes