Except for the instances of material noncompliance involving teachers and Limited English Proficient (LEP), Exceptional, and Vocational on-the-job-training (OJT) students, as discussed in the following two paragraphs, the Sarasota County District School Board complied, in all material respects, with the requirements of the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) regarding the determination and reporting of full-time equivalent (FTE) students and the number of students transported for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003.

Ø   Sixty-four of the 253 teachers in our sample did not meet applicable provisions of Florida Statutes or State Board of Education Administrative Rules regarding qualified instructional personnel; School Board approval of out-of-field teacher assignments; notification of parents regarding out-of-field teachers; and the earning of college credits and in-service training points.

Ø   We noted exceptions involving 94 of the 280 students in our LEP student sample; 89 of the 237 students in our Exceptional student sample for ESE Support Levels 4 and 5; and 97 of the 112 OJT students in our Vocational sample. These exceptions included reporting errors and records that were not properly and accurately prepared or were missing and could not be located.

Total instances of noncompliance related to FTE resulted in 143 findings affecting 19 of the District’s schools. The resulting audit adjustments to the District's reported, unweighted FTE totaled to a negative 55.9904, but have a potential impact on the District's weighted FTE of a negative 323.1078. Total instances of noncompliance related to student transportation resulted in 15 findings and a net audit adjustment to the District’s reported student ridership of a negative 507 students.

Weighted FTE adjustments are presented in our report for illustrative purposes only; they do not take special program caps and allocation factors into account and are not intended to indicate the weighted FTE used to compute the dollar value of audit adjustments, which is the responsibility of the Department of Education (DOE).

However, after consideration is given to the caution expressed in the above paragraph, the gross dollar effect of our FTE audit adjustments may be roughly estimated by multiplying the net weighted FTE audit adjustment by the base student allocation amount. For the Sarasota County District School Board, the gross dollar effect is a negative $1,142,868 (negative 323.1078 times $3,537.11).

We have not presented an estimate of the potential dollar effect of our student transportation audit adjustments because there is no equivalent method for making such an estimate. The ultimate resolution of our FTE and student transportation audit adjustments and the computation of their financial impact is the responsibility of the DOE.

Sarasota County District School Board

The Sarasota County District School Board was established pursuant to Sections 1001.30 and 1001.33, Florida Statutes, to provide public educational services for the residents of Sarasota County. Those services are provided primarily to students attending kindergarten through high school, but also to adults seeking vocational-type training. The District is part of the State system of public education under the general direction and control of the State Board of Education. The geographic boundaries of the District are those of Sarasota County. The governing body of the District is the District School Board, which is composed of five elected members. The executive officer of the Board is the appointed Superintendent of Schools.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003, the District operated 46 schools, reported 37,903.8341 unweighted, full-time equivalent (FTE) students, and received approximately $15 million in State FEFP funding for those FTE.

Florida Education Finance Program

Florida school districts receive State funding through the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP), which was established by the Florida Legislature in 1973.
It is the intent of the law "to guarantee to each student in the Florida public school system the availability of programs and services appropriate to his educational needs which are substantially equal to those available to any similar student notwithstanding geographic differences and varying local economic factors." To provide equalization of educational opportunity in Florida, the FEFP formula recognizes (1) varying local property tax bases, (2) varying program cost factors, (3) district cost differentials, and (4) differences in per student cost for equivalent educational programs due to sparsity and dispersion of student population.

The funding provided by FEFP is based upon the numbers of individual students participating in particular educational programs. A numerical value is assigned to each student according to the student's hours and days of attendance in those programs. The individual student thus becomes equated to a numerical value known as an unweighted FTE (full-time equivalent student). For example, one student would be reported as one FTE if the student was enrolled in six classes per day at 50 minutes per class for the full 180-day school year (i.e., six classes at 50 minutes each per day is five hours of class a day or 25 hours per week, which equals one FTE).

Student Transportation

Any student who is transported by the District must meet one or more of the following conditions in order to be eligible for funding under FEFP: live two or more miles from school, be physically handicapped, be a Vocational or Exceptional student who is transported from one school center to another where appropriate programs are provided, or meet the criteria for hazardous walking specified in Section 1006.23(4), Florida Statutes. The District received approximately $6.78 million in State FEFP transportation funding.

The Superintendent's written response to the audit findings is included in the audit report.