A Special Performance Audit of the Department of Education Safe School Initiatives - December 2008

A SPECIAL PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SAFE SCHOOL INITIATIVES DECEMBER 2008 Bureau of Departmental Audits December 3, 2008 The Honorable Edward G. Rendell Governor Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 225 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120 Dear Governor Rendell: This report contains the results of the Department of the Auditor General’s special performance audit of safe school initiatives administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (DE) for the period July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2006. This audit was conducted pursuant to Sections 402 and 403 of the Fiscal Code and in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. Our audit found that DE failed to verify the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of the statistics in its School Safety Annual Report, which is a compilation of school violence statistics submitted by public schools. In addition, we noted that the monitoring and administration of school safety activities, as well as grant programs, was less ...