LEVELLAND INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

Questioned Costs: None identified

Recommendation: The District should have processes in place to require documentation of sufficient supervision/review of all applications received/entered and of all eligibility determinations.

View of Responsible Officials: Management agrees with the finding and will implement procedures to ensure the documentation of sufficient supervision/review of all applications received/entered and of all eligibility determinations.

Effect: Without the proper controls surrounding the process of receiving applications, verifying the completeness of the applications, and inputting data accurately from the application to the system, incorrect meal counts by eligibility can be reported. Federal program reimbursements are directly related to the meal counts by eligibility category, and can result in incorrect federal reimbursement amounts.

2025-001 – Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance – Eligibility

Federal Programs: Child Nutrition Cluster (ALNs 10.553, 10.555)

Federal Agencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Pass-through Entities and Identifying Numbers: Texas Education Agency (71402401, 71402501, 71302401, 71302501) and Texas Department of Agriculture (N/A)

New or Repeat Finding – Repeat (See Status of Prior Year Findings and Questioned Costs – 2024-001)

Criteria: The District’s responsibility for internal controls over compliance extends to ensuring that adequate documentation and verification is maintained related to the eligibility status for the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.

Condition: We identified several instances in which no approval was documented, resulting in an incomplete record of the review process. In addition, one instance was identified in which the verification determination was inaccurately recorded on the application.

Cause: The District did not have the proper controls in place to ensure accurate determination of eligibility status and there was a lack of documentation of supervision or review process.

Recommendation: The District should require individuals in the role of accepting, reviewing, and entering applications to attend related training on how to determine that applications are complete, how to calculate pay for verification, and how to properly assess eligibility determination. There should also be processes in place to require documentation of sufficient supervision/review of all applications received/entered and of all eligibility determinations.

View of Responsible Officials: See Corrective Action Plan.

Effect: Without the proper controls surrounding the process of receiving applications, verifying the completeness of the applications, and inputting data accurately from the application to the system, incorrect meal counts by eligibility can be reported. Federal program reimbursements are directly related to the meal counts by eligibility category, and can result in incorrect federal reimbursement amounts.

2024-001 – Significant Deficiency in Controls – Eligibility

Criteria: The District’s responsibility for internal controls over compliance extends to ensuring that adequate documentation and verification is maintained related to the eligibility status for the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.

Condition: We noted two instances of “free” eligibility determined based on applications without sufficient information to make the necessary eligibility determination, one instance where the year to date pay amount on the application was incorrectly calculated for determination, and two instances were incorrectly verified as “free” eligibility by using net pay instead of gross pay.

Cause: The District did not have the proper controls in place to ensure accurate determination of eligibility status and there was a lack of documentation of supervision or review process.