Blair HS Audit: "We found that some cardholders used the school’s instructional materials card, which is linked to their budgeted funds, inappropriately."

There are good Independent Activity Fund (IAF) audit reports, bad audit reports, and then there's this recent one for Blair High School.  It's one of the worst that we've ever seen.

Remember:  The Independent Activity Fund is entirely student money. When the principal misuses the money, it's the students and their parents who pay for the misuse.

http://audits.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploads/blair/20210706_Montgomery%20Blair%20HS.pdf

A few excerpts from the report:

In our review of transfers, we found instances where transfers were inappropriate . . .

In our sample of disbursements, we found many instances in which purchases were not pre-approved, purchase requests were not completed accurately and completely, support documents were inadequate, expenditures were not recorded in correct accounts . . .

During our review of disbursements, we found the school had expended sums in excess of the limit to purchase audio-visual equipment without the required approval.  (Why is student money being used to purchase A/V equipment anyway?)

We found that some cardholders used the school’s instructional materials card, which is linked to their budgeted funds, inappropriately.  (The audit report doesn't go into detail about this misuse but prior MCPS audits that went into more detail reveal that purchase cards were used to purchase personal items, including car tires and fancy cakes.) 

For the collection of course fees, class sponsors must have a complete class roster of student names entered on a worksheet to annotate how much each student paid, students who had fees waived or reduced, and obligations issued (refer to the MCPS Financial Manual, chapter 20, page 11).  We found you charged course fees that had not been fully approved.  (Course fees are illegal under Maryland state law so this shouldn't even be happening in the first place.) 

Many of these findings are listed as "repeats" in the audit report.

Also, as noted in the audit report, these findings are based on sampling of transactions.  Therefore, it's safe to say that there are many more instances of misuse of student funds that the auditors did not find or report.