Department of Education

We found that the Department complied with Executive Order 13520, adequately addressed improper payment risks, and described an adequate level of oversight to reduce and recapture improper payments for FY 2011. However, it did not address monitoring or oversight of Pell Grant program recipients who...

Our audit sought to determine whether the Department’s OESE complied with applicable laws, regulations, and guidance for selecting recipients to be awarded discretionary grants and whether OESE had sufficient internal controls to ensure that its review process resulted in a fair and objective...

We found that Recovery Act expenditures by the Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correction, and two LEAs, Baltimore City Public Schools and Prince George’s County Public Schools, were generally allowable, reasonable, and accounted for in accordance...

We found that for the time period covered by our audit, Miami-Dade County Public Schools could not reconcile about $2.3 million in Recovery Act Title I funds and about $1.2 million in IDEA funds with the Florida Department of Education’s Cash Advance and Reporting of Disbursements System. As a...

Our audit to determine whether FSA selected Title IV Additional Servicers servicing prices that were most efficient and cost-effective found that it did so; however, we could not determine whether it did the same for changes made to those contracts. We also found that FSA did not adequately monitor...

We issued a management information report to alert the Department to serious fraud and corruption in Educational Services (SES) tutoring programs. We noted that the OIG has experienced a significant increase in the number of investigations involving fraud and corruption among SES providers. The...

The purpose of our audit was to review borrower complaints against private collection agencies (PCAs) to evaluate how effectively FSA monitored the complaints and ensured that corrective action was taken, ensured that PCAs were abiding by Federal debt collection laws and the related terms of their...

In 2013, we issued a report on how selected SEAs and LEAs administered the IDEA’s maintenance of effort flexibility provision when increased funding was provided under the Recovery Act. The audit found the SEAs and LEAs reviewed did not always comply with applicable laws and regulations associated...

In response to Congressional requests and media reports about whether the terms and conditions of the debit cards that servicers use to deliver Title IV credit balances to students were in the best interest of students, we conducted a review that determined that FSA should take action to better...

We issued a report which drew on our experience in performing more than 50 Recovery Act-related audits, conducting more than 200 criminal investigations, and reviewing nearly 145 allegations of reprisals of people seeking whistleblower protection under the Recovery Act. This “lessons learned” report...