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A Follow-up Audit Report on the Texas Education Agency's Monitoring of Average Daily Attendance Reporting

May 2012

Report Number 12-032

Overall Conclusion

The Texas Education Agency (Agency) has fully or substantially implemented 4 (36 percent) of 11 recommendations in An Audit Report on the Texas Education Agency's Monitoring of Average Daily Attendance Reporting (State Auditor's Office Report No. 10-001, September 2009). That audit report cited weaknesses related to the Agency's (1) timeliness and consistency of the attendance audit process, (2) selection process and coverage of attendance audits, (3) tracking of funding adjustments resulting from attendance audits, and (4) password policies and management of user access.

Since the 2009 audit, the Agency implemented an attendance audit approach that includes a risk analysis, increases coverage of school districts and charter schools, and focuses on monitoring compliance with attendance requirements. The Agency also implemented a new system that tracks funding adjustments resulting from attendance audits. In addition, it changed the password parameters for the servers supporting the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to reflect Texas Data Center standards.

While the Agency made progress in improving its attendance monitoring process and password policies, it should make additional improvements to (1) reduce the amount of time it takes to initiate and complete the attendance audit process; (2) help ensure that data analyses provide accurate and complete results, and formally document its reviews of data analyses; (3) retain attendance audit documentation throughout the adjustment process; (4) reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the attendance audit adjustment process; and (5) manage user access to the PEIMS application, servers, and databases.

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