A new audit lists vacant leadership in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools finance department as one of the district’s top challenges in recovering from its financial crisis.
Back in September, months after the district’s $46 million deficit was revealed, the State Board of Education voted to hire an auditor to review the school system’s internal controls.
Dave Jahosky, with the firm Mauldin & Jenkins, presented the findings at the board’s February meeting. He said the district’s new financial software has strong controls built in, preventing the kinds of budget overrides that caused trouble before.
Vacancies in key positions, though, are a persistent challenge.
"There are some resource constraints in some key positions, specifically within the CFO, the executive director and in the payroll director's position," Jahosky said. "And that challenge has been compounded by having six CFOs in a four-year time period. So there is a lack of institutional knowledge."
Superintendent Don Phipps says the district has cast a wider net and increased the salary range in hopes of filling the CFO position sooner.
"We're hopeful that there will be individuals that will see the need and want to come in and do heroic work with us in a time that we desperately need someone," Phipps said. "But the criteria, the requirements, are high. The bar is very high, and there are not a lot of individuals that are able to do this type work."
The rest of the district's action plan, based on the audit findings, can be viewed here.
