Agreed-Upon Procedures – Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2022, 2023, 2024

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Report Summary

Background

The Auditor of Accounts (AOA) contracted with Gunnip & Company, LLP, to perform an Agreed-Upon Procedures engagement on the State of Delaware School Districts and Charter Schools Maximum Student-Instructor Ratio for the school years ended June 30, 2022, 2023, 2024. Management of each School District and Charter School is responsible for compliance with 14 Del. C. §1705A, which states:

The ratio of students to instructors in any class in kindergarten or grades 1-3 in a Delaware public school shall not exceed twenty-two students as of the last school day of October. This subsection shall only apply to a class within which students are instructed in the core academic subjects of English/Language Arts, mathematics, science and social studies. A local school board may waive subsection (a) of this section after voting to waive such subsection at a public meeting notified for that purpose. Any local school board vote on such a waiver shall occur on or before December 1 of each year.

The State Auditor shall, in cooperation with the Department of Education, monitor compliance with this section in the audits of the boards of education of the schools district conducted pursuant to Title 14 §1504.

Key Information and Findings

The procedures performed on this engagement were as follows:

• Obtain the Annual K-3 Class Size Survey (Survey) from the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) website school years 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 and determine the accuracy of the number of students reported for a sample of classrooms for each school year from both the school districts and the charter schools by comparing the amounts reported in the Survey to the class rosters maintained by the school districts and charter schools. 
  • There were no exceptions for the school districts for each school year as a result of applying the procedure.
  • There were no exceptions for the charter schools for each school year as a result of applying the procedure.  However, two charter schools – Academy of Dover and Sussex Montessori, had already moved their enrollment systems to Infinite Campus and no longer had access to any prior year classroom rosters which was confirmed with DDOE.

• Based on the above samples, for those classrooms with twenty-three students or more, determine whether the classroom had an additional staff/aid in the classroom or obtained a waiver for the class size.
  • For the School Districts:
    • We found no exceptions for the nine sampled school districts for school year 2021-2022 as a result of applying the procedure. Additional staff were utilized for six school districts, while DDOE waivers were granted for three school districts.
    • We found no exceptions for the eleven sampled school districts for school year 2022-2023 as a result of applying the procedure.  Additional staff were utilized for three school districts, while DDOE waivers were granted for eight school districts.
    • We found no exceptions for the ten sampled school districts for school year 2023-2024 as a result of applying the procedure.  Additional staff were utilized for three school districts, while DDOE waivers were granted for six school districts.
  • For the Charter Schools:
    • There were no exceptions for the eleven sampled charter schools for the school year 2021-2022 as a result of applying the procedure.  Additional staff were utilized for three charter schools, while DDOE waivers were granted for two charter schools.  However, one charter school had already moved its enrollment system to Infinite Campus and no longer had access to any prior year classroom rosters which was confirmed with the DDOE.
    • There were no exceptions for the ten sampled charter schools for the school year 2022-2023 as a result of applying the procedure.  Additional staff were utilized for four charter schools, while DDOE waivers were granted for one charter school.  However, one charter school had already moved its enrollment system to Infinite Campus and no longer had access to any prior year classroom rosters which was confirmed with the DDOE.
    • There were no exceptions for the eleven sampled charter schools for the school year 2023-2024 as a result of applying the procedure.  Additional staff were utilized for three charter schools, while DDOE waivers were granted for one charter school.  However, two charter schools had already moved their enrollment system to Infinite Campus and no longer had access to any prior year classroom rosters which was confirmed with the DDOE.