FCPS Audit Report: 21-1001 - Fidelity of Implementation of School Board Actions
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FCPS Audit Report: 21-1001 - Fidelity of Implementation of School Board Actions April 2021 Prepared by Office of Auditor General 8115 Gatehouse Road, Suite 5500 Falls Church, VA 22042 Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 1 Background, Scope and Objectives, and Methodology ................................................... 4 Background ....................................................................................................................... 4 Scope and Objectives ....................................................................................................... 9 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 10 Audit Findings, Recommendations, and Management’s Responses ............................ 11 Finding 1 – Tracking and Reporting of School Board Motions and Forum Topic Consensus Items ............................................................................................................ 12 Finding 2 – Next Step Tracking, Reporting, and Completion ........................................... 16 Finding 3 – Costs and Resources Associated with Tracking, Responding to, and Implementing School Board Approved Actions ................................................................ 20 Observation 1 – Governance Manual and School Board Meeting Processes .................. 22 Appendix A – FY 2020 Motions and Amendments .......................................................... 24 Appendix B – FY 2021 Motions and Amendments (as of March 18, 2021) .................... 36 Appendix C – FY 2020 Forum Topic Consensus Items .................................................. 48 Appendix D – FY 2021 Forum Topic Consensus Items (as of March 18, 2021) ............ 51 Appendix E – FY 2020 Next Steps .................................................................................... 53 Appendix F – FY 2021 Next Steps (as of March 2, 2021) .............................................. 214 Appendix G – Benchmarking ......................................................................................... 325 Executive Summary This audit report summarizes the results of the Office of Auditor General’s (OAG) performance audit of the Fidelity of Implementation of School Board Actions. The audit was performed in accordance with the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 audit plan approved by the Fairfax County School Board (School Board). The audit covered School Board actions, as defined in this audit, as of July 1, 2019 through November 12, 2020, and specifically for next steps, responses through March 2, 2021. The objectives of this audit were to: 1. Review and evaluate the processes used by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) management to track, respond to, and implement School Board approved actions; identify opportunities to improve existing process; and 2. Determine the costs and resources to track, respond to, and implement School Board approved actions. During this audit, we evaluated the processes used by FCPS to track, respond to, and implement School Board actions, including motions and amendments approved by majority vote at regular School Board meetings, outcomes agreed to by consensus at School Board forums, and next steps agreed to by consensus at School Board work sessions. The processes to perform these functions for each of the actions vary for each of the action types, as described in the report. As a result of this audit, we identified two findings related to audit Objective 1 and one finding related to Objective 2. We make a total of six recommendations: Finding 1 – Tracking and Reporting of School Board Motions and Forum Topic Consensus Items For both School Board motions and forum topic consensus items, we are unable to determine the outcome of each discreet action because FCPS does not have a centralized tracking or reporting process in place to document and ensure all actions are seen to resolution, when applicable, in a clear and conspicuous manner. While the details and voting results of School Board motions and forum topics are documented in meeting minutes for each meeting or forum topic, there is no consistent process to later communicate the implementation progress or status of the motion or consensus item, when applicable. Recommendations: 1) FCPS management collaborate with the School Board Office to ensure all School Board motions and forum topic consensus items approved by majority vote, are tracked in a manner which is clear and conspicuous and includes relevant implementation progress or status, when applicable. 2) FCPS management collaborate with the School Board members to ensure expectations and methods for responding to actions are clear, consistent, and well documented. Given that the School Board is currently considering revisions to the Governance Manual, OAG further encourages FCPS management provide related feedback to the School Board members to further enhance action tracking and reporting. 1 Finding 2 – Next Step Tracking, Reporting, and Completion The next steps reporting document in BoardDocs is not complete with all next step responses for FY 2020 and FY 2021. Of the 694 next steps requested by the School Board between July 1, 2019 and September 12, 2020, the next steps reporting document on BoardDocs indicated that FCPS management responded to 449 by March 2, 2021. For the remaining 245 next steps with no response in BoardDocs, 15 next steps are associated with FY 2021 work sessions and remain outstanding, and 230 are from FY 2020. Of these 230 FY 2020 next steps, FCPS management compiled information which indicated 187 were responded to in some manner but were not recorded in BoardDocs. As such, we were unable to determine whether the School Board was always provided a response for these. Additionally, while FCPS management is generally responsible for responding to School Board member next steps, the next step tracking and reporting document is compiled and maintained by the School Board Office, which results in a cumbersome process which may be more effective if performed by FCPS management. Recommendations: 3) FCPS management provide responses to all future next steps, or outstanding next steps with pending decisions, or provide justification for not responding. 4) FCPS management collaborate with the School Board Office to ensure that next step responses are complete and responded to timely; and consider taking ownership of compiling next step responses into one document for the School Board Office to maintain on BoardDocs. 5) FCPS management consider documenting the related decision and decision date associated with next steps to ensure that next steps are responded to in a timely manner. Finding 3 – Costs and Resources Associated with Tracking, Responding to, and Implementing School Board Approved Actions FCPS does not quantify or track the discreet costs and resources required to track, respond to, and implement School Board approved actions; therefore, OAG was unable to determine FCPS’ costs and resources to perform to these respective actions. While not required to formally track these costs, due to the purpose and nature of each action type included within the scope of this audit (i.e. motions and amendments, next steps), the related costs and resources are likely to vary significantly between the different action types and even among actions of the same type (i.e. motions, or next steps). Recommendation: 6) FCPS management determine if there is a cost-benefit to tracking the costs and resources associated with tracking, responding to, and implementing School Board actions, individually or in the aggregate, and if a cost-benefit exists, develop procedures to track, monitor, and report on costs as appropriate. Lastly, we offer one observation related to the School Board current discussions and considerations for revisions to the School Board Governance Manual including, but not limited to motions, meeting procedures and the role of the meeting manager, and next steps. OAG encourages the School Board to utilize the results of this audit when considering the design and implementation of any additional checks and balances related to School Board action oversight. 2 Further, the School Board should consider collaborating with the School Board Office to develop procedures surrounding information in the BoardDocs library, which is an existing repository currently in use to organize information and materials by topic, but which may lack prescriptive guidance. FCPS management and the School Board Office concur with the Findings and Recommendations included in this report. We appreciate the consultation, cooperation, and courtesies extended to our staff by FCPS management and the School Board Office during this audit. 3 Background, Scope and Objectives, and Methodology Background Fidelity of Implementation of School Board Actions For this audit, we defined Fidelity of Implementation as FCPS’ commitment to ensuring School Board actions were properly acted upon. These actions include motions and amendments approved by majority vote at regular School Board meetings, outcomes agreed to by consensus at School Board forums, and next steps agreed to by consensus at School Board work sessions. The purpose of each action is noted below. School Board Purpose Action The purpose of each motion and amendment(s) varies, and while not explicitly documented, but could be categorized into the following: • To