MLSD considers potential forensic audit

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District is considering a forensic audit, after MLSD board member Paul Hill brought the idea up in closing comments of the Aug. 22 regular school board meeting.  

Hill said the audit will hopefully bring back trust from the community and hold people accountable for the recent accounting errors, inaccurate estimates of student enrollment and a double levy failure in the Spring of 2024, which caused the financial crisis MLSD is in currently.  

Hill opened the discussion at the Sept. 26 meeting with a written statement he had prepared listing four reasons he believes the school district needs the audit. Hill said people need to be held accountable, proper checks and balances needed to be established and the school board needed to know what happened so it could prevent similar circumstances moving forward.  

“My last two reasons for requesting the audit are as follows, until we as a board and a district can show that we are committed to total accountability with money we are trusted with, I don't believe we will pass a levy or a bond in the near future,” Hill said. “My last and most important reason for asking for the audit is simply for the staff and the children entrusted to us. I've said it before. I know we know a lot of what happened. I don't believe we know everything that's happened.” 

During the meeting, community member Ken Goodrich asked the board if they fully understood what had happened that caused the financial crisis.  

“I'll speak for the board, I suppose, and say that we have a fairly good idea of exactly what happened,” Board Chair Kirryn Jensen said.  

Interim Superintendent Carol Lewis released a statement regarding the district’s finances which the Columbia Basin Herald published: https://bit.ly/3TLiZQO 

“I'll speak for the school district. We do know what happened, and much of that was explained in the letter that I sent to the community,” Lewis said.  

MLSD had to make several budget cuts and reduce staff to ensure the budget was balanced. The budget passed at the Aug. 22 meeting. The district continues with cost-saving measures, such as switching two schools to well water to save $38,000 per year.  

One of the issues highlighted during the discussion was the cost associated with a forensic audit, estimated at around $185,000. School board members raised concerns over whether the district could afford the expense.  

“I too have been receiving lots of feedback in favor of the audit, but I also have been receiving a fair amount of feedback against the audit with some pretty valid points,” MLSD Board Member Carla Urias said. “So, I'm still in this very conflicting place about how I feel about it personally. Obviously, if money was no issue, I would say we should have done it three weeks ago.” 

MLSD Finance Director Mitch Thompson said the school district does not have the funds nor the staffing to conduct a forensic audit. He said the minimum fund balance is still below the amount the district should have. Thompson also said there would have to be at least two more people hired in the Finance Department for it to still run and the audit to be completed in a timely fashion. 

“At the end of the audit, you'll have your answers,” Thompson said. “There's no smoking gun, there's no stealing of money. There is mismanagement, there is overspending, and that is something that you know has gone on for years. It's not something that just happened. I can tell you that the responsibility that was put on one staff member brought them to the edge, and then beyond, and then personal life on top of that. So, what you're going to find is that somebody failed to do their job, and then somebody else failed to do their job, and then there was overspending, but there's no theft, there's no malicious intent.”  

Thompson also said there will be an intensive Washington State audit done of the school district this year which will analyze financial documents, board meetings, press coverage and more. MLSD completed a yearly state audit, all of which it passed. The state audits cost around $60,000 a year, according to Thompson. However, this year, the district will pay more for the intensive state audit.  

There was also potential discussion around sending out a survey to see what the public thinks of spending the funds to receive a forensic audit and what the school district could do to gain trust back. However, nothing was finalized during the meeting. 

In response to community concerns, the district plans to hold a series of public meetings throughout October.  

“Well, the community meetings specifically are so that we can do a few things,” Lewis said. “One is to do some basic explanation of how school district finance works. Then within that explanation, what we know went wrong in Moses Lake. Then to offer people an opportunity to ask questions and just open questions and we'll answer them as truthfully as possible with facts. Then, as we just discussed, the culminating question to the people who attend is, what will we need to move forward as a community.” 

According to a press release from MLSD, the meetings aim to educate the community about the district’s financial structure and the issues that led to its current crisis. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and work with MLSD officials to discuss the potential forensic audit. Lewis said there would be a Spanish interpreter present for the meetings. The meetings will not be streamed.

While no decision has been reached regarding the forensic audit, the feedback collected in the upcoming meetings will play a crucial role in shaping the board's choice, according to Urias.  

“We need a lot more of the community to be here to be able to be heard and be represented,” Jensen said.   

MLSD Public Finance Meetings 

Oct. 1 – Sage Elementary School – 6 p.m.  
Oct. 7 – Endeavor Middle School – 6 p.m.
Oct. 14 – Vanguard Academy – 6 p.m.
Oct. 22 – Frontier Middle School – 6 p.m.