Puerto Rico Department of Education’s Administration of the Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students Program

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Date Issued

Monday, July 11, 2022

Submitting OIG

Department of Education OIG

Other Participating OIGs

Department of Education OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Department of Education

Components

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Report Number

A19GA0003

Report Description

The objectives of our audit were to determine whether the Puerto Rico Department of Education (Puerto Rico DOE) provided accurate and complete displaced student count data to the U.S. Department of Education (Department) and appropriately accounted for Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students (Emergency Impact Aid) program funds in accordance with Federal guidelines.In our displaced student count testing, we determined that the Puerto Rico DOE reported inaccurate and unsupported displaced student count data to the Department for school year 2017–2018.We also determined that the Puerto Rico DOE generally accounted for Emergency Impact Aid program funds in accordance with Federal guidelines.

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Additional Details

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/auditreports/fy2022/a19ga0003.pdf

Open Recommendations

This report has 3 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
1.1	Yes	$0	$0
Develop and implement internal controls to ensure that officials and staff responsible for gathering data used for Federal reporting requirements obtain an understanding of the rules and regulations surrounding the grant programs they are tasked with overseeing.
1.2	Yes	$0	$0
Develop and implement effective written policies and procedures and sufficient information system controls to ensure that accurate student enrollment and withdrawal data are entered in its student information system in a consistent manner.
1.3	Yes	$0	$0
Provide support for the inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts or return $6.5 million in Emergency Impact Aid program funds received based on estimated inaccurate and unsupported displaced student counts.