Tired of negative surprises, Board of Education fires its 2 auditors

Much like no one enjoys unexpected company when the house is a mess, state education leaders are tired of embarrassing surprises.

During the past year, the Legislative Auditor General's Office has aired loads of dirty laundry in Utah's education system. Audits have revealed everything from teachers with sex offenses to incorrect enrollment counts.

In what it sees as a proactive measure for future issues, the State Board of Education fired its own two auditors.

The board wants internal auditors who can find out the negative details before legislative auditors announce them. State education officials could then quickly resolve issues that are discovered in their office, or the state's districts and schools, therefore preventing public humiliation.

"We are changing philosophies in how we approach audits. We need to do a better job of catching our own mistakes, analyze them and improve," said board chairwoman Debra Roberts, adding the State Office of Education auditing team needs to "be the listening ear."

The state education auditors who were let go, Kent Mohlman and Tim Salazar, are crying foul, saying they still don't know why they were dismissed. "We're perplexed," Mohlman said.

Legislative Auditor General John Schaff admits the five education-related audits his office released recently have had "alarming results" for state education leaders.

Schaff says it's his understanding the state board is looking for auditors who can take a deeper look at pertinent issues.

"What they see is their internal auditors have been taking nibbles out of the cookie, so to speak, and they want someone to get deep into it, where the jelly filling is, and see if things are OK," he said.

The board will be discussing, possibly at its June 5 meeting, whether to hire new auditors or contract the work out,

"There are lots of possibilities," Roberts said. "We want the right process in place."

Schaff agrees with the board's opinion of doing audits a different way. "I believe that's where they need to go also," he said. "They do need to catch the kind of things we have been identifying."

But Schaff said he also believes Mohlman and Salazar were perfectly capable of doing audits in a different way — but perhaps were never asked.