Our review of Recovery Act expenditures at two LEAs—the El Dorado School District and the Little Rock School District—found that the LEAs generally obligated and spent stimulus funds in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, guidance, and program requirements. However, we did identify areas of concern at each LEA. At El Dorado, we questioned its use of more than $237,300 in funds for a purpose prohibited by the Recovery Act: it improperly spent Recovery Act funds to replace a gymnasium roof at a high school that was no longer used as a school. In response to this finding, the district superintendent and business manager stated that the district reversed the costs and transferred other expenditures to offset those funds. At Little Rock, we identified control weaknesses in its asset inventory system that resulted in the district not properly accounting for and safeguarding equipment purchased with Recovery Act funds (and potentially other Federal funds) in a timely manner. Four of the seven purchases that we reviewed totaled almost $196,000. We recommended that the Department determine whether El Dorado’s transfer of expenditures to offset the questioned costs was an allowable activity more than 6 months after the grant had ended and that it require the Arkansas Department of Education to ensure that Little Rock strengthens internal controls over assets purchased with Federal funds.
AR
United States
