THE VARNETT SCHOOLS, INC DBA THE VARNETT PUBLIC SCHOOL

Finding 2025-001 Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance - Reporting AL# 10.553 & 10.555 – Child Nutrition Cluster U.S. Department of Agriculture Passed Through Texas Education Agency Criteria or Specific Requirement The Charter Holder is responsible for maintaining an accurate record of meals served to students in order to ensure compliance with claims submitted for reimbursement. Condition The Charter Holder submitted inaccurate meal counts for reimbursement between the months of September 2024 and August 2025, resulting in an aggregate of 2,374 meals under-reported. Cause The Charter Holder implemented a new software program, effective September 1, 2024, to track meal counts. Difficulty in understanding how to access and pull reports, combined with lack of review of the monthly claim reports prior to submission, led to inaccuracy of the meal counts. Effect or Potential Effect Under-reporting the number of meals served led to the Charter Holder losing available benefits, as the period for filing corrected claims had lapsed. Questioned Costs No questioned costs were identified. Context or Perspective Information None. Recommendation The Charter Holder should review its internal controls over compliance for meal counts to determine if any improvements can be implemented to ensure accurate and complete data to support monthly claim submissions. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions See corrective action plan