The Mississippi State Auditor’s Office says it is finding data errors in attendance information that the state’s public schools provide to the Department of Education.
Incomplete records or those with errors potentially affect local districts’ funding, said Shad White, state auditor.
The office did not name schools and districts where the errors were found.
The schools receive state funding based on average daily attendance, and one report reviewed the Mississippi Student Information System (MSIS), which collects information about attendance.
Auditors found some of the data local school districts submit to the Department of Education goes unverified and, in some cases, is incorrect. The auditor’s office is recommending that the Education Department conduct internal audits and districts perform periodic data checks.
A second report focused on the state’s Career and Technical Education program, in which the state invests
$50 million annually.
This program trains students for careers such as carpentry or engineering. The report found students are not being tracked to see if they graduated or found a job and therefore there was no information on how many students used their training to get a job.
Auditors also found the state Education Department submitted the exact same number of CTE participants in two consecutive years, suggesting the data might not be correct, according to the auditor’s office.
White said, “We’ve got to know if kids are being adequately prepared for a career. If we can’t find a way to measure the effectiveness of our career training, then we can’t know where to invest more resources. We’ve also got to know the attendance numbers are right, because that determines school funding.”
Dr. Mary Brown, superintendent of the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District, said the district always remains up to date with state procedures.
“The GLCSD Board of Trustees provides governance in proper district data collection through its policies and procedures, which are reviewed regularly,” she said.
“MSIS data is reviewed and submitted monthly to the Mississippi Department of Education. The district has checks and balances in place to ensure accurate reporting,” Brown added.
“Each school is assigned a clerk, who is responsible for entering data. All clerks are provided with MSIS training.” After all data has been entered, it is reviewed and signed by the school's principals, Brown said.
She said that district-level support staff also work with school-level clerks to ensure all data is accurate before it is sent to the Department of Education.
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. Twitter: @AdamBakst_GWCW
