State declines to audit Iowa City schools

IOWA CITY – The State Auditor's Office has declined a request to audit the Iowa City school district.

State Auditor David Vaudt recently sent a letter to the district saying the review that was requested by a public petition and by the district does not fall within the scope of the type of work his office does.

The district announced this summer it had discovered $2 million in bookkeeping errors and that it was fined $25,000 by the Internal Revenue Service for making a late payment on payroll taxes last spring.

Vaudt said that while those are “significant” mistakes, the district has acknowledged them and said they were caused by human error. Trying to find out how the errors happened would be within the scope of an operational or internal control review, he said.

The district has hired Synesi Associates out of Wilmette, Ill., for $59,000 to perform that type of work.

Superintendent Stephen Murley said the audit will look at the district's operations and accounting practices to see how they work and how they could be improved.

He hopes the audit is complete by the end of the year.