What the Auditors Expected to Find in the Plano Independent School District

While the attainment of improved productivity in a school system is a complex process, caused in part by the lack of a tight organizational structure (referred to as "loosely coupled"), common indicators of a school system meeting this audit standard are:

• Planned and actual congruence among curricular objectives, results and financial allocations
• A financial data base and network that are able to track costs to results, provide sufficient fiduciary control, and is used as a viable data base in making policy and operational decisions
• Specific means that have been selected or modified and implemented to attain better results in the schools over a specified time period
• A planned series of interventions that have raised pupil performance levels over time and maintained those levels within the same cost parameters as in the past
• School facilities that are well-kept, sufficient, safe, orderly, and conducive to effective delivery of the instructional program
• District and school climate conducive to continual improvement

What the Auditors Found in the Plano Independent School District

The auditors found that financial conditions are sound, and budget processes are traditional and closely held. Facilities are adequate for the immediate future, but considerable needs are apparent given current enrollment growth. Innovation implementation is congruent with rational practice, and increasingly high enrollments and escalating costs in special education jeopardize the resources of the system.