9-1-513. School finance audits and management studies.

(a) In addition to other duties prescribed under this article, the director of the department of audit shall establish a school finance section within the department to carry out duties prescribed by this section.

(b) The school finance section within the department established under subsection (a) of this section shall:

(i) Conduct periodic audits of each school district pertaining to data required to be submitted to the department of education under law and by rule and regulation of the state superintendent of public instruction for purposes of implementing and operating the "school finance system" as defined under W.S. 21-2-203(a). Audits under this paragraph shall include audits of systems supporting data collection and shall be performed on each school district at least once within each three (3) year period;

(ii) Conduct management studies of school districts including program evaluations and performance audits, on issues identified by the advisory committee to the department of education, as established under W.S. 21-2-203(d);

(iii) Conduct compliance and effectiveness and efficiency audits of the state department of education with respect to data used in the school finance system, implementation and computations under the school finance system and the allocation of funds to school districts through the school finance system;

(iv) Report findings and recommendations to the department of education resulting from audits and studies conducted on school districts pursuant to this subsection, including recommendations for remedies to identified problems and issues and including the identification and quantification of amounts involved in audit report and study findings;

(v) In addition to paragraph (b)(iv) of this section, provide a written report of each audit or study to the school district for which the audit or report was conducted;

(vi) Maintain a written report of each audit and study conducted under this section;

(vii) Establish a process to ensure school districts and the department of education address and resolve any problems identified within audit and report findings and recommendations and establish the determination of the materiality levels for findings;

(viii) Provide an annual report to the legislature on audits and studies conducted by the department under this section and on district and department of education efforts to resolve identified problems within the audits and reports. Reports under this paragraph shall include written responses by the districts and the department of education submitted in accordance with subsection (c) of this section;

(ix) As a part of the requirements under paragraph (i) of this subsection, conduct periodic audits of career-vocational education information and computations submitted by districts as necessary for implementation of W.S. 21-13-309(m)(v)(D) and include audit findings in the report to the department of education required under paragraph (iv) of this subsection and the report to the legislature required under paragraph (viii) of this subsection.

(c) School districts and the department of education shall provide access to all data and other information and shall cooperate with the school finance section as necessary to implement this section and to conduct audits and reports required under this section. In addition, each district shall within thirty (30) days following receipt of a copy of the audit or report, file a written response to each audit or report conducted on that district with the department. The state superintendent shall on behalf of the department of education and within thirty (30) days following receipt of a report or audit on the department, file a written response to the report with the department of audit.

(d) The director or his designee shall participate in the advisory committee to the department of education, as required under W.S. 21-2-203(d).