Iowa State Auditor to audit Des Moines Public Schools after receiving ‘qualifying’ request

DES MOINES — Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand's office plans to conduct an audit of Des Moines Public Schools following the arrest of former Superintendent Ian Roberts.

Sand's office announced the audit Tuesday evening, hours after saying at a press conference that his office would conduct such an audit if a qualifying request was submitted.

“The State Auditor’s Office received a qualifying request for an audit this afternoon and will conduct procedures at DMPS as a result. The request itself is confidential in our office’s hands and will not be shared,” Sand said in the news release announcing the audit.

Also at the Tuesday morning press conference, Sand called a request from three Republican state senators to conduct an audit “partisan politics.”

Sand told reporters that his office has “concerns” about the hiring process and other details around Roberts, who allegedly misrepresented his citizenship and immigration status while leading the state’s largest school district. But, Sand said, state law prohibits state lawmakers from requesting audits of public school districts.

Roberts, originally from Guyana, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in late September after federal officials said his work authorization had expired in 2020. Roberts said he was a U.S. citizen when he was hired by Des Moines Public Schools in 2023, according to district officials, who said they were unaware of the deportation order issued in 2024.

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Roberts later resigned and now faces federal charges for illegal firearm possession.

Republican state Sens. Jesse Green of Boone, Lynn Evans of Aurelia and Kerry Gruenhagen of Walcott sent a letter to Sand on Oct. 9 calling on him to audit the school district to provide taxpayers with more transparency around Roberts’ arrest.

Sand said the lawmakers' motive was rooted in politics instead of “public service,” adding that his office would audit Des Moines Public Schools after a proper request is made through the appropriate avenues.

“They (state senators) either knew that that request was something I couldn't fulfill legally and knew they were inviting me to break the law, or they were just totally ignorant of the law and really focused on politics rather than getting things right,” Sand said. “I want to emphasize that's not the approach of every legislator.”

Under state law, the Iowa Auditor’s Office may conduct an audit or reaudit of a school district if specific circumstances are met, including if a board member or employee reports suspected misuse of funds under Iowa Code Section 11.6(7), if 100 individuals living in a school district sign and submit a petition requesting an audit, if a state or federal agency requests testing after identifying concerns or if the office receives a valid citizen petition under section 11.6(4).

Sand said state law does not allow state lawmakers to request an audit of local entities, only spending by state departments under Chapter 11.5C of the Code of Iowa. None of the three senators lives in Des Moines.

Sand's announcement of the audit Tuesday afternoon did not state what requirement the qualifying request fell under. Before receiving the request, Sand said his office would not disclose who submitted it.

State senator responds to Sand's statements

Tuesday afternoon, after Sand's morning press conference but before the announcement of the audit, Green, who chairs the Iowa Senate Education Appropriations Subcommittee, sent out a statement arguing that state code permits Sand to conduct an audit of DMPS without first receiving a qualifying request.

Green pointed to Iowa Code section 11.6(4)(a), which says the State Auditor may conduct a complete or partial reaudit of “any governmental subdivision” if the auditor has “probable cause to believe such action is necessary in the public interest because of a material deficiency in an audit of the governmental subdivision filed with the auditor of state or because of a substantial failure of the audit to comply with the standards and procedures established and published by the auditor of state.”

Green also accused Sand of “protecting his allies and refusing to do his job.”

“Rob Sand is trying to distract from the fact that he doesn’t want to do his job and cares more about protecting his friends on the Des Moines Public School Board than being the so-called taxpayers’ watchdog,” Green said in a statement. “As legislators, we are permitted to ask the auditor to look into a situation where there are concerns arising, such as the one we are currently facing with the Des Moines Public Schools.”

Auditor's office spokesperson Sonya Heitshusen said this part of the code would only apply if state lawmakers could "supply substantial evidence" that the company that audited DMPS made significant errors in its review.

What would a DMPS audit look like?

Sand said Tuesday morning he had already discussed the process for filing a special request for the auditor’s office to conduct an investigation with some DMPS employees.

“We are here today to make sure that every DMPS employee and people who are citizens, who live in the DMPS jurisdiction, if they want to do a petition, are all aware of how this works,” Sand said. “Obviously, there was a failure in background check here, and figuring out who that is and who should be held accountable for (it) is going to be in the language of that contract, most likely.”

While school districts are audited annually, they can choose whether the Auditor’s Office or a private CPA firm conducts the audit. Des Moines Public Schools has for the past decade used RSM US LLP, a national accounting firm. The Auditor’s Office may review such firms’ work papers to ensure compliance with state and federal requirements. All audit reports are publicly available on the Auditor of State’s website.

On Oct. 3, Des Moines Public Schools filed a lawsuit against JG Consulting, the company contracted by the district to conduct the superintendent candidate search that resulted in the hiring of Ian Roberts. DMPS is claiming that the consulting company failed to "properly vet" Roberts.

Sand also said his office has "concerns" regarding reports showing Roberts requested district approval of contracts with a company that sold his books and marketed him as a consultant and speaker.

The Associated Press reported that in 2023, Roberts asked the district’s board for emergency approval of $116,000 in contracts just three months into his tenure. Roberts was warned by the district’s finance officer that the contracts with the Kansas City-based company Lively Paradox were a conflict of interest.

Months later, the district paid Lively Paradox $6,476 in consulting and travel expenses for a two-hour team-building exercise at a school board retreat, according to the Associated Press.

A political back-and-forth between Sand and Republican state senators

In the letter to Sand, the three Republican senators called out Sand’s stance on auditing the state’s Education Savings Account program, which allows public money to pay for private school tuition, arguing that he should “do his job and ensure the hundreds of millions of dollars taxpayers invest into education in DMPS is properly accounted.”

The lawmakers’ letter compared the $460 million in funding that Des Moines Public Schools received during fiscal 2025 to the $314 million Iowa’s ESA program is projected to cost the state.

“Given your continued interest in the education savings account program and its cost, we believe you and your office should be far more concerned about the hundreds of millions of dollars overseen by a superintendent with an ever-increasing list of deceptions and fraud,” the letter stated.

Since the passage of ESAs in 2023, Sand, the only statewide elected Democrat in Iowa and who is running for governor in 2026, has been vocal about wanting to conduct an audit of the program, which he said needs more oversight in spending.

“Who's really serious here about responsibility of tax dollars and oversight?” Sand said during the press conference. “It's just honestly ironic, a little funny, to hear the same folks who voted to gut the auditor's office, who voted to give away hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private schools with no rules and no audits, now complain that the office that they handcuffed is having a hard time doing an audit.”

Gazette Deputy Des Moines Bureau Chief Tom Barton contributed to this report.