The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Humacao Educational Region of the Department of Education (DE). A qualified opinion is issued when noncompliance, individually or as a whole, is significant but not pervasive.
The Report revealed deviations from law and regulation in the process of closing or consolidating schools in the Humacao Educational Region. From a sample of the 84 consolidated schools, it was found that, after being closed for up to more than a year, they still had one or both water and electricity services connected. For these services, the DE had paid $167,747 as of November 8, 2018.
The one-finding audit notes that one of the schools kept two bank accounts open totaling $11,990. This situation is contrary to the Guidelines for the Closing of the Bank Accounts of the Intermediate Schools Included in the Redesign and Consolidation issued on June 2, 2017.
Our auditors observed the lack of protection of public property and of the documents that contain sensitive information. For example, three closed schools had been vandalized and invaded; one of them, fenced with wires, had cattle and a horse in the yard (see Exhibit 1).
Other closed schools had equipment such as laptops, printers, televisions, electronic whiteboards, laboratory equipment, and others abandoned and unquantified (see Exhibit 2 of the report). One of the schools (see Exhibit 3 of the report) kept the files of students and personnel with sensitive data such as telephone and social security numbers, names, addresses and, diagnoses and treatments of special education students.
The Department of Education had not updated in the Financial Information System (SIFDE) the inventory of six closed schools despite more than 10 months having elapsed since their closures. These schools had registered in the SIFDE 4,938 units of property worth $725,621. This situation causes the property inventory to be overvalued.
Contrary to current regulation, the Fernando Roig school in Las Piedras, designated as the Center to preserve the files, also known as the records center, did not have a document classification and filing system. The Center does not have a document inventory nor personnel to perform the functions of an archivist. The files were in boxes placed on the floor, some with an accumulation of mold and dust on flooded floors (see Exhibit 4 of the report).
The situations commented on in the Report were due to the fact that the school principals did not comply with their responsibility and to the fact that the Circular Letters of fiscal year 2018 did not have clear provisions on the processes for closing and consolidating schools.
This first report covers the period from January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2018.
See Audit Report DA-19-29.
To see other published reports, visit our Audit Reports section.
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