An outside audit is calling for changes in the Bibb County school district's financial policies.
The audit was performed by the firm McGladrey. Auditors told the board they found around $30,000 in misused funds out of the samples they studied. The firm recommended the district fix he problem by clarifying some of its policies, then training school officials to make sure they understand the policies.
In one instance the audit found six schools that had been using credit cards, then paying the credit card bill out of school funds, but the schools could not provide receipts for many of the purchases made with the credit cards. This does against a district rule from February 2011 asking schools not to use credit cards.
"Those are major violations ," said Superintendent Romain Dallemand. "I don't take this lightly, this is very serious. No consistency in record keeping, I mean these are things we should take very seriously and as superintendent, I take this report very seriously and I will make sure we implement strong strategies to improve our finances."
But board member Gary Bechtel says in the grand scheme of the total budget, the infractions found in the audit are minimal, and the audit itself was a waste of money.
"Just reach out to the employees and congratulate them for being honest," said Bechtel, "and don't continue stigmatizing, don't go down showing no leadership and throwing employees under the bus."