CSBA joins with Total School Solutions to offer Proposition 39 performance audits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2006 – No. 9

(West Sacramento, CA) – The California School Boards Association last month signed an agreement with Total School Solutions of Fairfield, CA to offer Proposition 39 performance audits to school districts.

In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 39, which requires any school district or community college district that passes a 55 percent voter approved general obligation bond to complete an independent financial and performance audit annually. One audit focuses on the financial health of a facilities program to ensure the accounting for revenues and expenditures conforms to the generally accepted accounting principles. The other audit focuses on performance to ensure that the funds have been expended only on the specific projects listed in the original bond campaign.

“Conducting a comprehensive performance audit is critical to ensuring community support and trust,” said Scott P. Plotkin, executive director, California School Boards Association. “In order to garner continued support for general obligation bonds, it is critical that districts be able to show the community how they have expended the bond proceeds with diligence and efficiency.”

Total School Solutions began offering performance audits to districts in 2002, the first full year districts were required to perform audits after the 2000 law passed. TSS’ knowledgeable and experienced staff not only fulfills the required performance audit, but then goes a step further, offering a facilities overview and recommendations for how districts can maximize cost savings.

“Unlike our competitors, our firm is comprised of active and retired school facilities and financial management professionals who understand school management and the pressures and challenges faced by a district’s governance team,” said Tahir Ahad, president, Total School Solutions. “The advantage of employing TSS is our expertise in school planning, school development and project/construction management during the construction phase. CPA firms typically do not have this type of expertise in management of school facilities programs.”

“We felt it was important to join forces with highly regarded Total School Solutions to assist our districts in complying with the full extent of performance audits as described under Proposition 39,” added Plotkin of CSBA. “TSS is one of the few firms that assist school districts by approaching the performance audit as a comprehensive communication report to taxpayers, unlike other firms that use the process to verify compliance measures. Their experienced staff is poised to deliver a comprehensive performance audit as required by the voters of California.”

CSBA and Total School Solutions plans to formally introduce the performance audit program out to districts at the California Association of School Business Officials annual conference later this week.

For more information, please contact Susan Swigart or Suzi Rader at 916.371.4691.

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