ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING

The Board shall, following recommendations by the Superintendent, prescribe regulations for the keeping of accounts and fiscal records and making of reports by all under the Board’s jurisdiction who are charged with such responsibility. Prescribed regulations shall be consistent with those of the State Board of Education and with the directives of the State Examiners of Public Accounts.

Said accounts and fiscal records shall be available during normal business hours for inspection by the public. They shall be preserved for such period as specified by the Records Disposition Authority of the Alabama Department of Archives & History.

The Superintendent shall develop specific procedures to assure that accounting practices throughout the District are consistent with generally accepted accounting procedures.

The Board shall publish annually in a newspaper published in the Auburn area a complete statement of receipts and disbursements as well as a statement of outstanding funded and un-funded indebtedness of the School District for the twelve-month period ending the preceding September 30. This report shall be published during the month of October. Such statements shall be drafted as required by the State Superintendent of Education.

Within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of each annual report/financial statement, the Board shall place for public inspection said annual report in its entirety.

1. One copy in the office of the Superintendent;
2. One copy on reserve in each high school library; and
3. A minimum of one copy in the main branch of the Auburn City Library.

Within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of each annual report/financial statement, the Board shall provide written notice of the availability of said annual report to:

1. Each local parent group
2. The Chamber of Commerce;
3. All local news media.

The Board shall provide information to the State Department of Education necessary for said Department to publish an annual status report. Within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt from the State Department of each Annual Status Report on the condition of education in the school district, the Board shall place for public inspection said annual report in its entirety as follows:

1. One copy in the office of the Superintendent;
2. One copy on reserve in each high school library; and
3. A minimum of one copy in the main branch of the Auburn City Library.

Within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of the annual status report, the Board shall provide written notice of the arrival and availability of the Annual Status Report to:

1. Each local parent group;
2. The Chamber of Commerce; and
3. All local news media.

The Board requires that all fixed assets of the School District be inventoried and a perpetual inventory record be maintained in the Central Business Office. An inventory audit shall be made annually and shall be comprehensive to assure that all fixed assets are properly accounted.

The financial transactions of the Board shall be audited as early as possible after September 30 of each year.

Annually, as required by the State Board of Education, local school funds and accounts for which the principal at each school has responsibility shall be audited. Lunchroom accounts handled by Central Office personnel shall not be included in the local school audits.

The Board must forward a copy to the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts of every audit report issued to the Board.

The Board shall prepare an annual Accountability Report for each of its schools. This report shall include but not be limited to the following:

1. A Funding and Expenditure Report, which shall include annual budgets and financial statements and any other document, which may be necessary to assess the financial stability of the Board;

2. A Student Achievement Report which shall include a comparison of the immediately previous school year with the previous five years regarding student performance on testing required by the State Board of Education, dropout rates, attendance rates, graduation rates, college attendance and any other data deemed necessary by the Board or State Board of Education to inform the public about student achievement in each school.

3. A School Safety and Discipline Report which shall include statistical information relating to student safety and discipline in each school and any other data deemed necessary by the Board to inform the public about safety and discipline in each school.

These reports shall be released to the media, presented to parent organizations, members of the Legislature who represent the area in which a particular school is located and the State Superintendent of Education.

ADOPTED: August 13, 2002

LEGAL REF: Code of Alabama 16-6B-7; 16-11-22; 16-11-24; 41-5-14; Records

Disposition Authority, Alabama Department of Archives & History