Senator Linda Chesterfield Senator Sullivan and Representative Hodges are not going to be with us. And the vice chair has delegated it to somebody up here on the front. So we're going to proceed with this committee meeting and move as quickly a pace as we possibly can. For those of you thinking that Solution Tree will be here today, it will not. It will be tomorrow. So if that's why you came, wrong move, wrong move. So that's not the thing we're going to deal with. We have to adopt the minutes. Without objection, the minutes will stand approved. Are there objections? The minutes stand approved. And now we are going to C, Review of Reports. You are recognized.
Audit Staff Thank you, Madam Chair, and good afternoon. Today we have six education audit reports to review. And we will begin with the Lonoke School District audit report, which was deferred from the previous meeting. Lonoke had three findings. The first one, district administration discovered and ALA verified on a test basis missing funds related to a school fundraiser. Our review revealed that cheerleading fundraiser proceeds of $2,500 were deposited into the district bank account. However, district officials verified through contacting donors that $425 in proceeds intended for the fundraiser were sent to a payment app utilized by the cheer sponsor rather than deposited into the district's bank account. The cheer sponsor was terminated from employment on October of 2023 and charged with theft of property in November of 2023. Finding two, in August 2022, the District received a FFA grant totaling $2,300. The sponsor provided invoices to support only $300 in purchases with grant funds, leaving $1,996 unaccounted for. In addition, the sponsor purchased $5,700 in products for a fundraiser. However, fundraiser proceeds were not turned over to the district treasurer. District officials were unable to locate any of the fundraiser items or identify the amount of fundraiser proceeds. The sponsor resigned from employment on September 14th, 2023, and the Lonoke Police Department was currently investigating the matter. Finding 3, two unauthorized withdrawals totaling $4,900 were made from the district's bank account on January 6th of 2023. Bank personnel discovered the unauthorized withdrawals and the funds were recovered from the bank. And that concludes the findings for Lonoke School District. District officials are here to answer any questions the committee may have.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thank you so much. Would the district officials please come to the end of the table and identify yourself for the record, even though I may know your name?
Jeff Senn Good afternoon. I'm Jeff Senn, Superintendent.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Hi, Jeff.
Tonya Weaver And I'm Tonya Weaver, director of finance.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right, Ms. Director of Finance. The committee decided to take a look at this from the last time not because you had necessarily done anything wrong but because we were wondering what are you going to do going forward to preclude this from happening in the future.
Jeff Senn Yes, ma'am. We are currently deferring all of our fundraisers through our district treasurer. So if a fundraiser starts, let's say, at the high school, it goes to their secretary and is reconciled out through the receipts versus the deposits and then is sent to our central office where our district treasurer each month now goes through and make sure that all of our deposits reconcile with the deposit slips that we have. So we are reconciling each month where we were not doing that for our fundraisers.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Sounds good. Well, what has happened to the two individuals who decided to abscond with the money?
Jeff Senn We turned them in for ethics violations. We did have ethics hearings with both of them. One license was terminated for one year and fined $500. The other's license was terminated permanently. And I'm going to court. Charges were filed. That's felony charges. And charges were filed, and I'm going to court with that case next month.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. Any other questions from the committee? Mr. Accountant? All right. I appreciate you all so very, very much. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come. Madam Financial Officer, would you like to have anything to say? You're good. Thank you so very much. And we appreciate you and good luck going forward. Thank you for coming. We are now where, Mr. Fink? Arkansas Tech.
Audit Staff Thank you. The next report is Arkansas Tech University, which was certified to the Governmental Bonding Board. It had two findings. Finding one, on October 4th, 2023, the university discovered that a check for $120,000, which had been mailed to a vendor, was fraudulently intercepted and pay information was altered prior to clearing the bank on October 3rd, 2023. The funds were recovered from the bank on October 4th, 2023. Finding two, on October 24th, 2023, University personnel discovered that two welders with the total cost of a little under $6,500 were missing from the Ozark campus welding shop. Upon investigation, it was determined that the welding program chair instructor had sold these welders to students. Subsequently, the instructor was charged with theft of property and sentenced to 60 days probation. The equipment was returned to the university. And that concludes the findings for Arkansas Tech.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Is someone from Tech here?
Senator Alan Clark You were very kind of the last people and thanking them for coming with their busy schedule, etc. and I feel the same way.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Yes. Well, we invite those who have repeat findings. And the reason they're not here is because this is not a repeat finding. And so we did not invite them to the committee.
Senator Alan Clark Okay. Well, if I owe anybody apologies, I still like for people to show up.
Senator Linda Chesterfield I know you do. And I think that's so kind of you. But we just don't drag them down here for the first time. You know, they have to be a repeater.
Senator Alan Clark Well, Judge Judy says that if we put more people in jail--
Senator Linda Chesterfield Oh, God. Judge Judy. Is she not dead?
Senator Alan Clark -- the first time-- She is not. Alive and kicking. And that if we put more people in jail for the first offense, first time they're caught, she says that we would have less crime in the future.
Senator Linda Chesterfield I'm sure she means that, too. But this has been referred to the prosecuting attorney. The university is not at fault here. Were it the fault of the university, then certainly we would be having them here. But if you would like for them to come, the committee can always do that. But it is a first finding and they have taken the correct actions to make sure that this does not happen again.
Senator Alan Clark Having played Senator Chesterfield and said what I wanted to say, I'll make the motion to have it considered heard.
Senator Linda Chesterfield You've heard the motion. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, we will place the question. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no? Motion carries. Mr. Fink, you're recognized.
Audit Staff You made the statement. I was just going to-- for clarification purposes for those that are here. These were criminal acts not associated with, at least at this point, associated with anybody from the university.
Senator Linda Chesterfield That is correct.
Audit Staff They stole from them. Intercepted. It was cybercrime or not really cybercrime-- with a check. But it was criminal and that's been turned over. Normally from there, that's all we do. But the auditors are still required to disclose that.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Of course. And it's important that we continue to monitor this, those of you who are coming back, because we have some people who are so clever that they don't care whom they hurt. And that is why we're here as members of the committee to take action on this. And if this repeats itself, then ATU has not put into place the proper safeguards. Then we need to talk to them. Would you agree? All right, then let us move on to the next one.
Audit Staff Next report, which was referred to the prosecuting attorney and the Attorney General was for Arkansas State University System, which had one finding. The university internal audit department conducted an audit of commissions paid to international recruitment agents by the ASU Jonesboro campus for the period June 30th, 2015, through June 30th, 2024. Internal audit reviewed supporting documentation related to international students applications and commission payments to determine the accuracy and legitimacy of commissions paid to the agents. Internal audit discovered lack of internal controls, including inadequate supporting documentation for payments and lack of adequate internal control policies and procedures. Additionally, the review revealed staff of the International Programs Department were instructed to utilize agent codes when international students had not listed an agent on their application or listed an agent that was not a partner of A State. Due to these circumstances, internal audit noted questionable payments made to agents and sub agents totaling $507,000 and $18,415 respectively. And that concludes the findings for the ASU system. There are officials present to answer any questions the committee may have.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Would members from the ASU system please come to the table?
Shane Broadway Thank you, Madam Chair. Shane Broadway, ASU System.
Todd Shields Todd Shields, chancellor.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Hi, Mr. Chancellor. How are you?
Todd Shields Good to see you.
Senator Linda Chesterfield It's good to see you, too.
Shane Broadway Honored to appear before you one last time, senator.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Don't hold your breath that long. Let me just take a point of personal privilege and say that I had the honor of working with Mr. Broadway when I began my tenure in this body in 2003. And he was very active in education, and he still is. And Shane, I have appreciated so very much your friendship over the years.
Shane Broadway The feeling is mutual.
Senator Linda Chesterfield And we're concerned. And would you like to address this, Chancellor, or is Shane going to talk some more?
Shane Broadway I will talk first and then I'll turn over to the Chancellor.
Senator Linda Chesterfield You sure you want it that way, Chancellor?
Shane Broadway He may not. But this kind of explains the process within the ASU system. Inside the ASU system, we have our own internal audit process. So this was an issue that was identified by Chancellor Shields. He then reported that to our internal audit staff. Mandy Walker is right over here if she can wave. She is our internal auditor for the entire system. And so when he uncovered the issue, he reported it to Mandy. She is also a former Legislative Auditor, and the item was also self-reported to Legislative Audit when it was identified. The matter has been investigated thoroughly and our internal processes and procedures have been created and modified around the International programs department to prevent further issues like the one noted in the report today. And I'll let the Chancellor, if you want to have him elaborate any more on what those processes now entail.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Chancellor, would you like to address them?
Todd Shields Can you hear me okay?
Senator Linda Chesterfield Certainly.
Todd Shields So what we have now is if you're a recruiter, we have you log into your own portal and you have your own secret login and password. And when you log in and you say, I am recruiting a student here. We have a record that you're recruiting that student. And then when the student does come to A State, we verify that that was your recruiter that came through there. Then at the back end, we're making sure that the student is enrolled and that they are in good standing. And then we will pay the recruiter the fees for recruiting a successful student that wasn't in place before. Now, nobody can just say I recruited somebody when they may not have.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Is this an official act, this recruitment? How does one become a recruiter?
Todd Shields So we go through a very in-depth vetting process to work with-- there are lots of international recruiters, but we work through an RFP. And we work through the recommendations that we call references, and we call other schools that use them successfully. And we try to work with people that are doing the right thing. In the spring of 2023, someone came to me and said that they didn't think we were keeping records on everything, particularly with one recruiter in particular. That's when I went in and looked into this and said, Yeah, I don't think that we are. We stopped payments. We stopped working with that person in spring 23 and that's when we called.
Senator Linda Chesterfield So this is a cottage industry.
Todd Shields That one, niche.
Shane Broadway I guess you would say. Yes. And then the recruiter involved in this process is no longer one of our recruiters.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Are there questions for the chancellor or for former Senator Broadway?
Senator Jim Petty So just for my own education purposes. So you pay recruiters to recruit international students. And what was happening is some international student would show up and the recruiter would claim credit for it, even though they had nothing to do with the recruiting process.
Todd Shields They would claim credit for it, and then we would also have internally somebody that might say, you recruited the student. You might say you recruited the student, but nobody could verify with the student that you really did help them or not.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Senator English.
Senator Jane English So thank you. So how much are recruiters paid?
Todd Shields So usually it varies depending upon the success and if you're bringing in students that are successful in completing a degree. We really want somebody to recruit students that are coming here and staying in and graduating from A State. But it's usually a fee. So it's usually based on the number of hours that they're taking. But it's very typical to pay like about $100 for every semester that they complete. That's just like a base. Some are more than that.
Senator Jane English So if they stay two years and leave, then what happens? Do you get your money back?
Todd Shields No, I do not get my money back. We try to retain every student. If a student is leaving and going someplace else, we try to do everything we can to convince them to stay.
Senator Linda Chesterfield So if it's paid on a semester basis, $100 a semester, if they stay four semesters, that's 400 bucks.
Todd Shields Yeah, but that's just the example. The contracts with the recruiters do differ.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Predicated on what?
Todd Shields Our negotiations with them and how good they are at recruiting. And, you know, somebody is a great recruiter and they bring our students that are fantastic and they're graduating at A State and they're contributing to society and doing great things, then we're going to pay them more because we really like what they're doing.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Help me because Higher Ed is not my thing. Is there a company that deals with recruitment, or are these individual actors that deal with the recruitment?
Todd Shields Both. Both.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Okay. Both. All right. Further questions for the Chancellor or for Mr. Broadway? Senator Petty.
Senator Jim Petty One more. Is there any recourse, a blacklist so to speak, that you can report these bad actors to so they don't go do this somewhere else?
Todd Shields Not that I know of, of a formal blacklist, but there is this, you know, informal connection between universities of saying, hey, this was our experience with that recruiter.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. Further questions? Seeing none, what is the pleasure of the committee? Senator English moves review. Is there a second? Representative Tosh second. Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, we will place the question. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no? The motion carries. Thank you, gentlemen, so very much. Thank you.
Shane Broadway Thank you, committee.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Mr. Fink, you're recognized.
Audit Staff The next report to review is the Blytheville School District, which was referred to the PA and the AG. They had four findings. During the auditor's review of board meeting minutes, the auditor noted on November 17th, 2022, the board appointed the superintendent as the district's primary board disbursing officer in violation of Arkansas code. Finding two, fixed asset records were not properly maintained. Finding three, the superintendent entered into a contract with a public relations company without board approval, resulting in unauthorized payments to the vendor of $47,500. And finding four, the auditor was unable to perform a test of teacher contracts because contracts were not retained for audit inspection. And that concludes the findings for the Blytheville School District.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Was anybody invited from Blytheville to be here?
Audit Staff Since there were no repeat findings and this is the first time it's before the committee.
Senator Linda Chesterfield And Dr. Perkins is no longer with the school district. I had visited with some folks from Blytheville, and I had a feeling that that might be the case. So this is not a repeat finding. What is the pleasure of the committee? Senator English moves review. Is there a second? Representative Duke seconds. Is there discussion on the motion? I know that they ought to show up. That's Mr. Clark saying. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed no. Motion carries. Kipp Delta. This is a repeat finding.
Audit Staff Kipp Delta. Yes. They have a repeat finding. They had ten findings total. Instead of reading each one, I'll try to summarize. For findings one, two and four, supporting documentation was not provided related to accounts receivable testing, repairs and maintenance expenditure testing and federal non payroll testing. So the auditor was unable to determine the validity of accounts receivable and expenditures selected for testing. Finding three was related to uncleared checks that were still listed on the bank reconciliation as outstanding. Finding five was the repeat finding and it dealt with equipment acquired using the Education Stabilization Fund. The property records did not contain all information that is required by federal regulation.
Finding six was for the school not performing a physical inventory of equipment purchased under the Education Stabilization Fund program, which is required by federal regulations. Finding seven, the audit testing found that eight of the employees' time certifications from a sample of 40 indicated that they worked less hours in the ESF program than what was actually charged to the program, which resulted in questionable costs of $1,700. Finding eight noted that one time certification from the sample of 40 was not signed by the employee and there was no evidence of approval by a supervisor. Finding nine noted that one employee's contract was not maintained, resulting in question cost of $477 in the ESF program. And finding ten was related to the testing of lease agreements and proper supporting documentation for those leases for the amount recorded in the general ledger. And that concludes the findings for Kipp Delta. And obviously there are officials here to answer any questions the committee may have.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Certainly. Would you identify yourself for the record, please?
George Cotton Sr. Yes. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and members of the committee. My name is George Cotton Senior. I'm the new interim chair of the board of directors. In my day job I serve as Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. But I've been interim chair a little bit over three and a half weeks, maybe about four weeks.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. Yes, ma'am.
Martha Madden My name is Martha Madden. I'm the new finance director.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. And somebody looks familiar, like he used to hang around here a little bit.
Kevin Smith Yes, ma'am. It is nice to be back and see everybody. My name is Kevin Smith. I am the interim executive director. And I think today starts my third week on the job. And I'm also a former member of this august committee and chair of this subcommittee. It was a long time ago, and I know that cuts no ice when it comes to this audit committee. But it's worth mentioning.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thought you'd just throw it in, huh? What has happened, Kevin, because Kipp's been around a long time. And, you know, some of these findings we have here, we anticipate taking place because it's a new charter school or something of that sort. But what has happened at Kipp? Because this is kind of unusual.
George Cotton Sr. Madam Chair. As I mentioned, I'm George Cotton and one--
Senator Linda Chesterfield Yes, Mr. Cotton.
George Cotton Sr. One of the reasons I'm at this table-- I'm sorry. One of the reasons that I'm--
Senator Linda Chesterfield Is there a green light on?
George Cotton Sr. Yes, it is.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Okay. Yeah.
George Cotton Sr. One of the reasons I'm at the table, in addition to the fact that I grew up in Phillips County-- Helena West Helena is my home. But as I said earlier, I'm also vice chancellor for institutional advancement at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and many of our students come from the Arkansas Delta. So when I was approached to serve as a member of the Kipp board, like you, Senator Chesterfield, I was excited because of Kipp's reputation. Kevin and I did not know each other personally before I came to the board.
But interestingly enough, you can probably look at me and tell I've been around a while. I played football with his brother years and years ago. But the findings, I don't have to tell you, are not only serious, but they impact, quite frankly, the educational integrity of the organization and what we're supposed to be doing. Let me tell you the things that we have done. Realizing how serious they were, we made several immediate changes. One, we immediately removed the former executive director and superintendent, Mr. James Boyd.
In addition to that, as a member of the board, I had been on the board a couple of years, but if you've been on boards before, you know you rely on both the administration and board leadership to keep the rest of the board informed of what was going on. We've since restructured and reorganized the board. I'm the new chair. So we've, in addition to removing the executive director, we've also had a new change at the top. Ms. Madden is our new finance director. So the reason you kept hearing the titles of interim executive director, new finance director and interim chair is because we realized that while the board-- and I'm here speaking not just as an individual from Phillips County, but I'm speaking on behalf of the board.
And I'm here to say we take this very seriously. We own the need to correct it and we're going to correct it. And while the board may not have been asleep at the switch, we were most certainly nodding. And we're here saying that we're going to get this right. We believe we have the right team in place. And Mr. Smith and Ms. Madden will give you more specifics. The other thing I will say in addition to that is we've also taken a deep dive into the entire financials of the district. We're revisiting almost every contract with vendors, suppliers.
We're taking a look at every conference, every workshop. If there's a dollar being spent, we're now looking at it in Kipp Delta to, as you stated, Senator, get the institution back to where it's supposed to be.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thank you. Ms. Finance Director.
Martha Madden Yes, ma'am.
Senator Linda Chesterfield What you got to say?
Martha Madden I will say in the past year, the whole finance team at Kipp Delta dissolved. So everyone that was a part is no longer there. I came from Arkansas Public School Resource Center, so actually I worked there for about a year and seven months or so. So when I came from there, I knew I wanted to go back to my roots. Kipp Delta is my alum, so I graduated from there.
Senator Linda Chesterfield You don't have to say how long.
Martha Madden But so Kipp Delta means a lot to me. That's why I wanted to go back and help out as much as I could. And I think we're on the right road. We're getting there. This past year has been rough with just turnover, so we're back to trying to get stability and get back on track.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Do you have sufficient staff for separation of duties and that sort of thing so that one hand will know what the other one's doing and you can also watch out for each other?
Martha Madden Currently, yes, ma'am.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. Kevin?
Kevin Smith Madam Chair and members of the committee, I want to point out, we stole Martha from the Arkansas School Resource Center, and we've also contracted with them to help Martha get all of this resolved. And repeat findings were always my pet peeve when I was on the other side of this table and also people that said, well, I wasn't here then. So that's what we're saying, that we weren't here then. But we have already made changes are what I want you to hear. And Scott and Ken are in the room from the Arkansas Public School Resource Center.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Who now?
Kevin Smith Scott Smith.
Senator Linda Chesterfield I don't know. Are you sure you're in good hands?
Kevin Smith And we've brought Ms. Madden on and already begun to make the changes in real time that are recommended in this fiscal year. So we hope the next audit looks better. And also and we appreciate any guidance on this, Mr. Fink. We would like to-- this was a private audit. Nothing against private auditors, but we would like to recommend that we go back to state audits and Legislative Audit to do our audits. I think it shows transparency, I think. Plus, I can read and understand them better. I think we can trust what they say. You can trust what they say. Not that you can't trust private auditors. Plus, it saves us money. That's a big reason. And right now, we're trying to do a lot of that.
Senator Linda Chesterfield If you will contact Mr. Fink before you leave and give him your information, he will walk you through that process. And it is a cost saver. And it does bring, I think, more transparency to the process because I know that's what you want to do. Is that correct?
Kevin Smith Yes, ma'am.
Senator Linda Chesterfield All right. Are there questions for the lady and the gentlemen at the table? Senator, Clerk, you are recognized.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you, Madam Chair. Since I've been in the legislature, been a huge fan, advocate, defender, supporter of Kipp. You've done a great job for the students and families in that area. You've done a great job for the state as a lighthouse to what can be done where we were previously failing. And you've caused others to raise their level. When you see this much that's not being done, has this bled over into other things? I have concerns that if we weren't taking care of this, were we taking care of the other things in education?
George Cotton Sr. If I could, Senator, I think you're really on to something. I'll be honest. These are lagging indicators, let's just be honest. The reality, and Director Smith and I've talked about this, this was a clear warning shot for us to take a clear look at operational dynamics in the district, to look at educational delivery.
So the answer to your question is, yes, this did, in fact, bleed over into other areas. And we are also immediately moving to do that. We're moving some of the staff who, quite frankly, we believe were misplaced. We have very talented people who were in the wrong place, but who were saying to us, this is not the best way to educate children but who weren't listened to. And we're moving some of those people who are veteran educators into positions to strengthen the education on the curriculum side.
We're also taking a look at basic delivery. We had staff, quite frankly, after Covid, we had contracts that never should have been let with virtual education and virtual delivery. And as an administrator at a university, virtual education has a place. But we over utilized that. So we're correcting that as well. So that's a long answer to say Yes, but we've already moved to address many of those that aren't even pointed out but we were able to identify in advance.
Senator Alan Clark It sounds like you're on top of it. I hope that you are. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Senator Clark, there is a greater enrollment at Kipp than had been in the past. Is that correct? Or have you lost students?
George Cotton Sr. No, Senator, unfortunately, as I said earlier, this is a lagging indicator. Enrollment at certain areas are down. Our enrollment at the elementary level has pretty much stabilized. Like many charter and private school institutions, the high school, we've got a lot of work to do in that area. The population in our Helena schools are much stronger than in our Blytheville school. We've got a lot of work to do. But with the internal controls and the changes we're making in real time, we're literally making some changes today. We believe that we're not only going to be able to stabilize, but to address immediate concerns not only that I've pointed out. We've already began to, as Director Smith said, implement many of the findings or recommendations that are pointed out in this report.
Senator Linda Chesterfield So what was your state grade, Dr. Cotton?
George Cotton Sr. I appreciate the promotion, Senator Chesterfield. I've been called a lot of things.
Senator Linda Chesterfield You don't want me to start calling you things.
George Cotton Sr. So Director Smith may be able to more adequately report. We had several schools that, quite frankly, needed work. We finished last year with, I think at least a couple of schools that were D schools. And we, again, we did better at the elementary level. Unfortunately, because we didn't do a lot of things that we were supposed to do, in too many cases, the longer children stayed with us, the more challenging of an experience they had. Director Smith, again, might be able to provide more specifics.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Well, I had read the report and it was somewhat surprising to me that Kipp's grades were where they are. And it is an indication of a greater issue. And so I anticipate that with the new leadership that you guys are providing and the financial integrity that you're bringing to the table that perhaps you can turn this around. Because I've never been a big fan of charter schools. Let me just say that from the beginning. That's not been my thing. However, if kids do well, that is my thing. That is my thing. And so I do not root for failure. All of us want children to succeed no matter where they are. Would you agree?
George Cotton Sr. Not only do I agree, Senator, but one of the realities-- and Kevin and I mentioned that we didn't know each other before, but we talk all the time now. Most of the time, 3 or 4 days a week. Not only do I believe that-- again, this sounds kind of oxymoronic, but I too was not a fan of charter and private schools. But I do believe in educational options and alternatives. And we stepped up to do this. No one made us do this. We volunteered to do this. And I just kind of learned that parents send you the best kids they have. They don't keep the good kids at home and send the bad kids to school. So it's our responsibility to educate every child. And that's what we're doing at Kipp.
And the reason we're making the changes, Senator, is because there are a lot of things and a lot of practices that we implemented that really didn't make sense. So we realize now, and we believe we've got the right person in place in Director Smith. He knows his way around not only the Capitol, he knows his way around Phillips County. Ms. Madden is a veteran finance leader. And we just believe, especially with the structural changes we made on the board and the institution, that we can get this right. And as I said, I'm a product of Phillips County, born right there in Lexa, Arkansas, grew up picking cotton and chopping beans.
So I know what it's like to provide a child with an educational opportunity, whether it's Kipp or whether it's Helena-West Helena. And we're going to do that and we're committing to you today that this team is going to make the changes necessary to turn the district around.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Further questions from the committee? Senator English. I'm sorry-- Senator Clark, you were done?
Senator Jane English Thank you very much. And I guess it has been sort of disappointing to me to see where Kipp is right now, because I know when we started out with Kipp, it was nationally recognized and kids were doing really well. And I'm not sure what happened there, but I don't think we want to see anybody fail, anything fail. And I appreciate and I hope to goodness that you're able to bring it back to where it was before. I know that's your goal.
George Cotton Sr. Thank you, senator.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Mr. Tosh, you're recognized.
Representative Dwight Tosh Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate your being here today. And thank you for your answers. I just want to make sure that I understand. I've noticed in each one of these findings, the monies that are involved, one of them's a little over $1 million and there's $47,000 and I believe there's almost $300,000. And one of the findings in there was $15,000. And it just goes on with each finding. And my question is simply this: Have you been able to account for that money that's been mentioned in these findings? And has that money been restored to the proper funds and has it all been accounted for?
George Cotton Sr. My answer to that would be no. But that's why we've contracted with the Arkansas Public School Resource Center and hired Ms. Madden. We had a major leadership change and we are in the process of answering that question, yes. And also, I think our perception so far is most of it was improper coding, improper bookkeeping. And we haven't found anything that I would call criminal, at least at this point. That doesn't mean it wouldn't happen, but there's no indication of that, mostly just as a nonfeasance when you don't mean to, but you're just not doing it and just weren't doing what needed to be done for whatever reason. So what we're trying to do is not only do going forward what Audit and what this audit recommends, but also we are very much in the process of going back and fixing all of those things and plugging those information places with answers. That's a great question.
Representative Dwight Tosh Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I appreciate your answer. But when you see findings like that where you've got probably totally up close to a couple of million dollars, you just want to make sure that it's been accounted for. And if I understand you correctly, you're not really finding anything that would lead to a criminal issue. It's more of a coding issue. And you're correcting that. Okay, Sounds good. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Certainly. Yes. Senator Clark.
Senator Alan Clark Yes. I just want to say, hopefully we won't see you back here, but I personally would like to hear how things are going from time to time, because I think you have been very crucial to the state and we hope that you get things back on track.
George Cotton Sr. Thank you, sir.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Further discussion? What is the pleasure of the committee? We have a motion for review from Senator English. Is there a second? Second by Senator Clark. Further discussion on the motion? Seeing none, we will place the question. All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed no. I wish you the very, very best of luck. Richard Nixon said you won't have me to kick around anymore. I'm going home. But I do hope that we don't see you back down here. Yes, sir.
George Cotton Sr. Senator Chesterfield, I would be remiss if I did not thank you on behalf of the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff for your continuous support of the university. You've been a champion of the university. And I want to personally, on behalf of the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and our friends, of course, at Philander Smith University. Thank you for your support.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thank you very much. It's been my pleasure. Is there any other business that should come before the body? Senator Clark-- he has something too. Mr. Fink has something else, too. But I'll recognize you first. Of course. Well, I'll recognize Mr. Fink first.
Audit Staff There was one report on the last page that had no findings. That was University of Central Arkansas. Staff recommends that be filed as reviewed.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Senator Clark, you're recognized.
Senator Alan Clark Thank you, Madam Chair. Point of personal privilege. I could have done this perhaps better sitting up there as vice chair.
Senator Linda Chesterfield You have me the chair. You want it back?
Senator Alan Clark No, no, no. I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. But it's more fitting that you be there. Last little bitty thing that I could do to honor you. We have brought it up in other places, as we should have. You have been an ally at times. You've been an opponent many times. But you've always been a friend.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thank you.
Senator Alan Clark And you've always stood up for the Senate being the Senate, and for the high standards that we expect from each other. And I don't think that all of my colleagues recognize, especially the newer ones, but I think even some of the older ones, how much you will truly be missed. Perhaps the train was coming down the tracks and perhaps you were fixing to get hit by the caboose, but I don't think so. Your being as sharp as you are and steadfast as you are, you have kept us out of trouble sometimes when we didn't realize that you kept us out of trouble. And you will sorely be missed. And I very much appreciate you. And I know we all do.
Senator Linda Chesterfield Thank you so much. You're so kind. Thank you, all of you. You are treasured by me. I will see you tomorrow while we look at something that I've been pushing for for a very long time, and that's accountability. That's what this committee is all about. It isn't about gotcha. It isn't about being mean to people. But it is about the accountability that we, the people, should expect from those individuals who are tasked with the educational institutions of this state. And with that, I wish you a pleasant rest of the day. And God bless each and every one of you.
