Account for school funds

After millions of dollars allegedly were defrauded from the Davis School District by two former employees, state lawmakers are well within their rights to demand greater accountability of school-district financial processes.

To that end, Utah House Speaker Greg Curtis has requested a legislative audit. The purpose of the audit is to determine if school districts follow their own accounting procedures and whether oversight improvements are needed.

After two former Davis School District employees were indicted in federal court for allegedly defrauding the district of $4.3 million in federal Title I funds, which aid students in low-income schools, state lawmakers should demand answers as to how such alleged crimes could be perpetrated and escape detection for a number of years.

Considering the vast amounts of money that school districts handle, it is not surprising that they might become the targets of unscrupulous people. The Davis District case aside, there have been a smattering of smaller theft and fraud cases at Utah schools in recent years. Utah is hardly alone in this phenomenon. In Concord, N.H., for instance, a former school district bookkeeper recently pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing more than $400,000 in lunch money.

Even with the best accounting practices, it is difficult to thwart people who conspire to commit fraud because they know the system and can work together to overcome safeguards.

Fortunately, the vast majority of public school employees take their responsibilities seriously. They labor to stretch precious education resources. From the school level on up, they strive to be accountable for the welfare of students and school finances.

But there is nothing wrong with examining school district processes to close any loopholes that an unprincipled employee might exploit, or to determine if accounting systems can be altered to better detect mistakes or, worse, fraudulent activity.