State auditors call for better oversight of migrant worker ed program
By Kimberly Beltran
Monday, March 04, 2013
Despite recent efforts to improve its oversight of the federally-funded migrant education program, the California Department of Education has not provided adequate guidance to the regional offices that administer the services, says a report from the state auditor released late last week.
Instead, CDE has relied largely on the judgment of regional administrators and its individual program staff for decisions about allowable expenses and financial codes used to categorize these expenses, the report said. This lack of formal guidance has created inconsistencies and controversy regarding allowable expenses and how they are classified, resulting in a “flawed and inaccurate” accounting of regional administrative costs.
“These calculations, as well as recent decisions related to vehicle purchases, have continued to sow discord between Education and the regions,” the auditor wrote. “Because of a lack of trust, [CDE] also has had difficulty making productive use of a state parent council whose purpose is to advise and assist the migrant program. Partly because of its past inaction and lack of communication, [CDE] now faces numerous grant conditions and reporting requirements imposed by the federal agency overseeing the migrant program.”
The migrant program, fully funded by the federal government, provides supplemental education services to migrant children, who can receive services if they or their parents or guardians are migrant workers in the agriculture or fishing