Mount Vernon District School Board member Dan Storck supported the audit committee proposal to add another board member to the committee at the Oct. 9 meeting. Photo by Reena Singh.
The school system’s audit committee is growing.
The Fairfax County School Board agreed to add another school board member to the committee and add an auditor general position to the budget at their Oct. 9 meeting.
“We have come a long way,” said Mount Vernon District board member Dan Storck. “When I first came on the board in 2004, we did not have an audit committee.”
All motions on audit committee changes passed unanimously.
The committee grew from two members to three in 2012, according to at large board member Ilryong Moon.
“This has been a discussion for some time,” he said.
THE BOARD will choose a board member to serve as the fourth member of the committee at its next meeting on Oct. 23. Currently, Moon, Storck, and Dranesville District board member Jane Strauss serve on the committee.
“As most of the departments in the recession had to take cuts, our audit office had to as well,” said Strauss. “We are now in the position of making sure we have enough school board members on the committee, we will have more staff. That’s the only way we’ll be able to get more work done.”
She noted that all audit committee meetings are open to the public for those curious about how it is run.
“When you look at the school board subcommittees, the audit function is one of the most important things we do,” said Braddock District board member Megan McLaughlin. “I’m excited about this evening’s vote on this proposal.”
Fairgrade and Fairfax Education Coalition co-founder Louise Epstein said more changes are needed before the committee can reach its potential.
“After attending audit committees for the last few years, it became apparent that four board members were working consistently to fend off or limit the impact of well intentioned proposals,” she said during the public comment period.
Epstein said adding a fourth member could be the wrong move for the committee if the member wants to minimize their independent scrutiny. She also asked why there was not a proposal at the meeting to add two community committee members at the meeting.
“With Dr. Garza at the helm, things have improved a lot,” she said. “I even wonder today if I should declare victory on tonight’s motions, but all organizations need checks and balances, even those with great CEOs.”
ACCORDING TO MOON, the board will discuss adding two community members in November.
He said adding an auditor general will expand the scope of audit activities. The budget passed in May accounted for the new position, he said, so the board will not have to seek additional funding.
“It might take us a little bit of time to find the right person, but I have every bit of confidence that we will,” said Storck.
Springfield District board member Elizabeth Schultz said the position will help FCPS perform performance audits for teachers, schools and programs. She said that just because something has been done for years does not necessarily mean it is the best for the schools — and the position will help to spot FCPS’s weaknesses.
“This is an absolutely, critically essential function that has long been essential,” she said. “We see that it’s a best practice. The Board of Supervisors sees that this has a tremendous return in terms of the savings that are realized, and it isn’t about cutting. It isn’t about cutting programs or cutting people out or cutting educators.”