Audit Recommendations Disclosure

When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor’s assessment of auditee’s response based on our review of the supporting documentation.

Recommendations to the Legislature

Recommendation 1

To help districts provide support services for students while continuing to comply with the 50 Percent Law, the Legislature should consider amending the 50 Percent Law to include, but not be limited to, either or both of the following as Instructor Salaries:

• The salaries and benefits of librarians.
• The salaries and benefits of counselors.

Recommendation 2

To offset the potential impact of including such expenses as Instructor Salaries, or the numerator of the calculation formula, the Legislature could also consider increasing the percentage at which districts must achieve compliance.

Recommendation 4

To ensure that the Legislature has consistent information about basic needs services spending, and to allow the Legislature to determine whether it should similarly add additional basic needs services spending to Instructor Salaries, or the numerator of the calculation formula, after the Chancellor’s Office implements our recommendation to require consistent reporting of basic needs services, the Legislature should require that the Chancellor’s Office provide to it information on basic needs services spending by restricted and unrestricted funding for each district.

To ensure that community‑supported districts comply with the 50 Percent Law, the Legislature should consider creating an enforcement mechanism that effectively applies to community‑supported districts. For example, the Legislature could consider imposing a financial penalty, such as a fine.

To promote transparency and to ensure that stakeholders have appropriate information about the rationale for creating new administrator positions, the Legislature could consider requiring districts to do the following:

• Report annually to the Legislature information on newly created administrator positions, the justification for those additional positions, and the funding source used to pay for the position.
• Consistently and thoroughly document their justifications when creating new administrator positions by including whether the position is needed for increased workload, or if applicable, how the position will contribute to student success. If a district creates the position to improve student success, the district should identify the student success metrics by which it will measure the position’s success.

Recommendations to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should provide the districts with regular training and clarify its existing guidance. The trainings should include instruction about how districts should correctly classify instructional aides and should identify the correct accounting codes districts should use to accurately identify transactions included in Instructor Salaries, Current Educational Expenses, and exclusions.

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should provide training and clarify its guidance to districts that only ISAs in the “Other Expenditures” category should be included as Instructor Salaries.

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should provide districts with guidance about what constitutes an instructional and noninstructional purpose when expending lottery funds.

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should perform basic reviews of the financial reports that the districts submit to identify any obvious errors in reporting, such as the numerator of a section being larger than the denominator.

To ensure that districts follow the exemption process when they have not complied with the 50 Percent Law, the Chancellors Office should create a policy by September 2025 for verifying that a district’s compliance plan specifies how the district will spend the deficient amount for Instructor Salaries during the next fiscal year and ensuring that the district governing board has certified the compliance plans.

To ensure that Calbright complies with state law, the Chancellor’s Office should immediately require Calbright to follow the process to apply for an exemption as state law prescribes, including submitting the initial exemption application and second exemption form, and obtaining a decision from the CCC Board of Governors.

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should perform basic checks of its administrator, faculty, and support service staffing and salary data by checking district submissions for fewer than one FTE or less than one dollar for salaries in the administrator, faculty, and support staff categories. The Chancellor’s Office should follow up with districts about any potential errors it identifies.

To ensure that districts submit accurate information related to their compliance with the 50 Percent Law, by September 2025 the Chancellor’s Office should implement a training and guidance program for districts about their submission of required staffing and salary data for administrator, faculty, and support staff, and require all districts to complete it.