The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Caguas Regional Educational Office of the Department of Education. A qualified opinion is issued when noncompliances, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals deviations from law and regulations related to the process of closing or consolidating schools. From the examination performed, it was found that four of the 10 schools visited had water and electric power services despite up to more than three years having elapsed since the closure. In other four schools, the suspension of water was processed up to five months after the closure and the power services up to 10 months after the closure. As of March 31, 2021 the Department had a debt of $26,637 with the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority. In addition to the debt, this situation allows outside persons to benefit from the use of the water and electricity of the closed schools.
The one-finding audit notes that three schools had been vandalized and horses and an animal cage were observed. At one campus, the padlocks had been changed by a neighbor who kept her vehicle at the school. (see photos in Exhibit 1 of the Report)
In three schools, abandoned and deteriorated equipment was identified such as electronic boards, computers and video equipment, in addition to educational materials and documents with sensitive information such as names, dates and places of birth of the students. (see photos in Exhibit 2 of the Report).
As of October 9, 2020, the inventory of one of the closed schools, which had 371 units of property for $204,051, had not been updated in the Financial Information System of the Department of Education (SIFDE). This situation causes the property inventory of the Department of the Treasury and that of Education to be overvalued and to not have reliable information.
On the other hand, the equipment storage area of the Caguas Regional Educational Office does not have water or electricity services, lacks windows, maintenance of the surroundings, and the equipment to dispose of and out of use was not separated. (see Exhibit 3 of the Report)
The Report comments that one of the campuses out of use is occupied by a private nonprofit corporation whose contract ended on December 12, 2018. The campus was being used for storage of equipment and materials.
In the Caguas Regional Educational Office, 64 schools were closed from 2017 to 2021.
This first report covers the period from January 1, 2016 to February 28, 2021.
See Audit Report DA-22-11.
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