FSDB officials told to watch legislation

FSDB officials told to watch legislation

By MARGO C. POPE
Associate Editor
Publication Date: 12/14/03

Officials of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind were advised Saturday to monitor closely any proposed state legislation affecting the school, in view of last year's critical audit.

William L. Proctor, a member of the State Board of Education and a former chairman of the school's Board of Trustees for 12 years, spoke to the trustees at their regular monthly meeting.

Proctor was trustees chairman during most of the time covered in the operations audit completed a year ago by state Auditor General William Monroe's office.

In the document, auditors said there were 13 violations of state rules or state laws.

The operational audit covered the time from July 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2001, and some transactions through Aug. 31, 2002. It did not deal with the school's curriculum or its school operations.

"If there is a bill for any statutory remedy, the administration, your attorney and the staff should be very careful as to the nature of the remedy," Proctor told the trustees.

Proctor said that in some instances, the school falls under state school rules while in other instances, it is treated as a separate state agency.

He said there will always be procedural issues and that the trustees should not think all of those will be cured with any future changes.

The school has held that confusion with state rules and statutes has caused much of the criticism of the school's business practices by the state auditor general.

Proctor said it is important for the school to get a clear understanding from the state of what the school is and which rules and laws govern it.

FSDB officials and Proctor are preparing for their opportunity in January to tell their side of the state audit's findings to a state legislative committee.

The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee met last Monday and heard from Monroe about the audit. In January, Committee Chairman Rep. Ray Sansom, R-Fort Walton Beach, said the school will have its turn to explain its responses to the audit to the committee.

No date has been set for the meeting in January but last week, Sansom said the outcome of the review could result in possible legislation to clarify some issues or other action by the committee.

Mary Jane Dillon, trustees chairwoman, said she was encouraged by several comments during the Dec. 8 legislative committee meaning. The most significant, she said, was Monroe's comment that there was no indication of fraud, theft or a cover-up by the school.

In response to Proctor's advice, she said the school would move slowly, deliberately, cautiously and carefully as the audit is reviewed and any proposed changes in rule or law are proposed.

Among the criticisms in the audit were the lack of an internal auditor for the school, the hiring of an outside lobbyist, the placement of nearly $1.4 million in public funds deposited in a private bank and not in the state Treasury, and not obtaining appraisals on some $2 million in property purchases adjacent to the school for its expansion.

The school has since hired an internal auditing firm, moved the money in question into the state Treasury, and put a lobbyist on its payroll. It said it followed the guidance of the state Internal Improvement Fund in the process used to purchase properties for expansion.



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