Summary of Examination Report

The Washington County School Program (WCSP) at Eckerd 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 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004.  Total instances of noncompliance related to FTE resulted in one finding.  The resulting audit adjustments to the District's reported, unweighted and weighted FTE totaled to zero

Washington County School Program (WCSP) at Eckerd

The Washington County School Program (WCSP) at Eckerd operates an alternative educational facility for youthful offenders under a grant agreement between the Washington County School Board and the Florida Department of Education.  This facility, the Eckerd Youth Development Center in Okeechobee, Florida, is part of the State system of public education under the general direction and control of the State Board of Education.  The Center was formerly known as the Okeechobee School for Boys.  For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004, the WCSP at Eckerd reported 183.9448 unweighted full-time equivalent (FTE) students, and received approximately $3.9 million in State FEFP funding for those FTE.  The primary sources of funding for the WCSP at Eckerd are funds from the Florida Education Finance Program and Federal grants and donations.

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).

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