Auditor blasts adult The state auditor has criticized the state Adult Education Program, saying the "self-serving practices of adult-education staff have taken precedence over its mission to serve the community."
education program
The report alleges accounting
problems and urges the UH
to take over the programBy Genevieve A. Suzuki
gsuzuki@starbulletin.com
In a report released yesterday (PDF, 120K) that says the state Department of Education cannot ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of adult education, Auditor Marion Higa alleged:
>> The Department of Education uses a counting system that artificially increases adult class enrollment and thereby the pay of principals and vice principals.
>> The department gives additional pay to administrative staff for teaching during their normal work hours.
Higa recommended that the Department of Education transfer responsibility over the program to the University of Hawaii's community college system.
Higa also recommended the "DOE implement consistent and accurate record-keeping practices, charge course fees consistently, review staff utilization policies, conduct student evaluations and assess student outcomes."
In response, Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said the DOE has tried to correct the problem of overcounting of teachers with computer software that verifies single-student enrollment. She noted that the DOE standard was to count the number of registrations, not individual participants. That meant, for example, if a person took two classes in one session, he or she would be counted as two registrations.
Regarding the additional pay for administrative staff, Hamamoto noted that "vice principals are 10-month employees hired for the summer to help administer the trimester if the CSA's (Community Schools for Adults) year-round schedule."
She said there is no other way to compensate these administrators for summer work.
About turning the program over to the UH, Hamamoto said her department "plans to conduct an independent program review of the Community School for Adults Program to determine the effectiveness of these initiatives."
Hamamoto said the data the auditor used for her report are based on academic years 1994 to 1998. Since then the DOE has made several changes in the areas that were criticized and formed a partnership with the University of Hawaii Community Colleges so it could improve the Adult Education Program.
The auditor's report called the DOE "overly restrictive" in the way it distributed federal funds through a competitive grant process and said it violated the Hawaii Public Procurement Code.
The auditor and the U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education questioned the DOE's decision to award all available federal grant money to the adult community school consortium, said the report.
But Hamamoto said the DOE did not violate the Hawaii Public Procurement Code because the awarding of federal money does not fall under the code.
State Office of the Auditor
State Department of Education
