The Missouri State Auditor’s office hasn’t audited Rockwood since 1994, but in the second half of 2012, it plans to conduct an audit of the district.
Vanessa Chandler, director of communications for the Missouri State Auditor’s office, explained an audit as “an examination to determine whether an entity has complied with law and sound financial principles.”
In the case of district auditing, the office investigates areas such as school policy, quality of administrative procedures, whether the district follows open records laws, competitive bidding processes for contracts and conflicts of interest.
Chandler said the scope of the audit has yet to be determined, and the audit may not even take place this year.
“Since this is a discretionary audit, we might have to cancel or delay it if we’re mandated to conduct other audits by petition or the governor’s orders,” Chandler said.
The auditing process is a long one. First, auditors announce the start of an audit and ask the public to provide comments through mail and a phone hotline. The auditors meet with the audited entity and explain what happens. Then on-site field work, such as going through records and reporting direct observations, takes place. Afterward, the auditors report their evaluations to the audited entity and give the entity a chance to respond. The auditors incorporate the entity’s reponse, finalize the evaluation and publish the report.
Shirley Broz, district chief financial and legislative officer, predicted the audit would likely not disrupt classrooms. She received official notice of the tentatively scheduled audit on Thursday, Feb. 23, and said she welcomed the audit.
“My reaction is to welcome an audit of the district in a spirit of continuous improvement,” Broz said. “This will be a free service from the state, and we’ll cooperate in every way with the auditor’s office staff.”
Broz said she does not anticipate any major issues from the audit since Rockwood has an independent audit each year and receives the highest marks possible in the annual independent audits.
“Rockwood has an AAA bond rating by the Standard & Poor’s Rating Agency,” Broz said.
Broz said the Rockwood audit is part of a routine cycle of audits conducted by the Missouri State Auditor’s Office, which typically audits one to three school districts a year.
Conan He, sophomore, said the audit is a good idea.
“If there are enough resources to do it, an evaluation might be helpful,” He said.
He said he has a few concerns about the district he’d be interested in having the office audit.
“The way money is allocated in this district doesn’t seem very efficient,” He said. “Two bonds were issued for middle school and high school libraries. I also think standards based grading should be re-evaluated.”
Still, He said he is basically happy with the way Rockwood runs.
“Most of my classes have great teachers that help progress learning,” He said. “And I’m responsible for my own academic success, so I can’t really place any blame on the district.”
He said most students don’t care what material the audit will cover or that the audit will take place at all.
“A vast majority of students don’t care about it,” He said.