The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion on the fiscal operations of the Arecibo Regional Education Office (OREA) of the Department of Education. A qualified opinion is issued when the noncompliances, individually or together, are significant but not pervasive.
The Report reveals that the Department of Education paid $418,596 for water and electricity services it did not use in 90% of the schools closed in the Arecibo Education Region. The analysis of a sample of 10 of the 61 schools closed between 2017 and 2018 indicated that the suspension of electric power occurred up to 11 months after the closures and the suspension of the potable water service up to 23 months later.
The five-finding audit notes that the principals and the school councils did not comply with the corresponding procedures for closing the schools' bank accounts, contrary to the Guidelines for the Closing of Accounts issued in 2017. In one school, the issuance of a check for $4,834 was certified, but the receiving school did not provide evidence of the use of said funds. In the remaining schools, the bank account documentation was not available.
During an inspection visit, the auditors found trash and debris in the closed schools, four schools that had been vandalized, and horses on the grounds of two schools. In addition, the schools had deteriorated equipment such as laptops, printers, cartridges, screens, televisions, whiteboards, and other materials. This situation of lack of protection of public property fosters deterioration and prevents the Department from being able to sell or transfer the facility. (See photos in the Report)
The auditors of the Office of the Comptroller observed boxes of files of students and former employees stacked without being classified or inventoried, in a humid and unventilated area in two schools that served as a warehouse. This situation fosters that outside persons have access to confidential information and that the documents were not available to be evaluated.
The files of the school transportation carriers lacked the certifications required when formalizing the contract, issued by the Department of the Treasury, the Municipal Revenue Collection Center, the Department of Labor, the Public Service Commission, the Department of State, and the Child Support Administration, among others. Similar deficiencies had been commented on in Audit Report DA-14-33 of 2014. In addition, the copies of these contracts were sent to the Office of the Comptroller up to a month later than the regulations provide.
Contrary to the legality in force, the officials of the Office of Finance of the Department of Education did not withhold $1,645,134 in contributions not made at the source of the payments to the school transportation contractors from 2017 to 2019. Nor did the Department of Education provide us with the Certificate of Total or Partial Release.
The audit also reveals that the Arecibo Regional Office did not have a property custodian from 2018 to 2019, did not have the annual physical inventories for fiscal years 2017 and 2018, and other deficiencies related to property. A similar situation had been commented on in Audit Report DA-10-06 of 2009. This Report covers from January 1, 2016, to February 28, 2021.
See Audit Report DA-23-01.
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