Providing Services for Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committees

HOT TOPICS

Commentary

Taxpayers Deserve Better Performance Audits of School Construction Bonds

Commentary by Bryan Scott | March 27, 2024 | https://edsource.org

Excerpt: California public school and community college district voters approved $20 billion of construction loans in 2022, with more passing in 2023, using the Proposition 39 financing capability. The California Association of Bond Oversight Committees (CABOC) estimates that a total of $197.8 billion of this type of construction loan now exists.
     Proposition 39 made it easier to pass bond measures, but it also created a new emphasis on vigorous taxpayer oversight of construction expenditures. …
    This oversight includes a performance audit that “… shall be conducted in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States for financial and performance audits.”  Education code section 15286
     When a standards-compliant performance audit is not present, however, laws can be broken, crimes committed, and voters are left to conclude that their tax money is not being spent wisely. A search engine’s worth of indictments, allegations and plea deals are discoverable on the internet, relating to school districts and construction. This is in addition to the traditional occurrence of excessive change orders, cost overruns and delivery delays. …
     A statewide compliance survey released in October 2022 revealed that performance audits produced by most school districts fail to sufficiently comply with the required standards, according to a common sense, reasonable evaluation. …
     Many performance audits are just over two-pages in length, and include a single compliance audit objective. They typically fail to audit or provide information on program effectiveness and results, internal control or any prospective analysis of the construction program, which is usually the largest construction program ever undertaken by a school district.
    The comptroller general’s government auditing standards manual describes how government officials, such as school districts, should use a performance audit to assure the public that its money is well-spent. These standards describe the categories of audit objectives: program effectiveness and results; internal control; compliance; and prospective analysis. It also lists 32 examples of audit objectives, illustrating each of the four categories. This information provides objective analysis, findings and conclusions in order to improve program performance and operations, reduce costs and increase public accountability. …

 
CABOC Performance Audit academy webpage (includes videos, FAQs and resources):

 

     
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

   

Bond Oversight Academy
CBOC Online Training Courses

The CABOC CBOC academy currently has 25 self-paced courses. There are resources with each course. The academy will be continually updated.

Help Desk   Contact CABOC’s Help Desk with your questions and for advice. 

FAQs  There are over 70 Frequently Asked Questions. The CABOC board is continually adding more FAQs.

Links  This web page has ver 100 external links to resources, ed codes, reports, websites, etcetera.

CABOC Purpose

CABOC is the trusted and independent source-of information, education, training, and assistance on school bond oversight to CBOC members and California taxpayers. Proposition 39 (2000) lowered the threshold for local voter approval of school bond measures to 55%. It was accompanied by the mandate to establish independent CBOCs to oversee school bond expenditures and report findings to governing boards, taxpayers, and the general public.

Our mission is to develop the tools: training materials, newsletters, workshops, and conferences to enable CBOC members to engage in rigorous independent oversight and fulfill their obligations to ensure and report that bond money has been spent adequately for the benefit of students, families, their communities, and all Californians and to represent our collective interests at the statewide level.

Voters have approved $198.7 Billion Proposition 39 School Bonds

Contact CABOC: info.caboc@gmail.com

911 Notre Dame Ave, Concord, CA 94518

For CABOC Official Business Only   •      Terms of Service