School Board Audit and Budget Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. We're going to get started. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the School Board Audit and Budget Advisory Committee, our September 15th, 2026 meeting. We're going to start with welcome and introductions. I will start with Mr. Goodman.

Good afternoon, John Goodman, Chief Auditor. It's good to see everyone.

Good afternoon, Iraida Mendez-Cortez.

Good afternoon, Rafael Villalobos, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Good afternoon, everyone. Michael Lewis, Deputy Superintendent.

Can we go to the back?

Julio Miranda, committee member.

Blanca Malagon, ABAC member.

Christopher Norwood, ABAC member representing District Two and the good and honorable Dorothy Bendross-Mendingall.

Juan de Arce, ABAC member representing Dennis Pino.

My name is Beverly Heller and I represent

Jerry Donatis, representing District 4, Alonso.

Anna Huckamer, representing Luisa Santos.

Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mendengold, school board member, District 2. Hello, Iraida.

Sharon Watson, committee member.

And I'm Anthony Attal. I'm the ABAC vice chair and District 8 appointee, Vice Chair Colucci. Welcome, everybody. We do have a lot of new faces on this dais, as well as in our audience. I do want to first... offer a special congratulations to our newly appointed superintendent, Rafael Villalobos, as his new superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, now leading the third largest public school system with over 300,000 students across 500 schools and more than 30,000 employees. Mr. Villalobos, a proud graduate of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He began his career as a classroom teacher more than three decades ago, served in virtually every level of the organization, including assistant principal, principal, district administrator, region superintendent, and now is our superintendent of schools, a former... DCPS Principal of the Year, and he has a deep and enduring commitment to the students, families, and communities of all of Miami-Dade County. Mr. Villalobos, on behalf of all of us here at ABAC, we welcome you, we thank you for saying yes to this district, and we look forward to a long and prosperous future with you as our superintendent, sir. So thank you, and join me in congratulating Mr. Villalobos. I also want to acknowledge our chair, Rojas. Thank you, Madam Chair. You're always here. You're always present. We really appreciate you coming to all of these meetings. And I think she just stepped out, but Dr. Bendros-Mendingal, our new school board member on this day. So thank you. We see a lot of new faces here, and we look forward to working with everybody that's here. With that, I'm going to move to...

I think Mr. Villalobos may want to say something.

Yeah, Mr. Villalobos, my apologies. No, through the chair, just thank you so much for everything that all of you do to really strengthen here our budget in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. and really the oversight that you have to make sure that taxpayer money is spent correctly and done correctly so we really appreciate all the time that you put in and we know how much time you put in so thank you very much for that and i'm looking forward to working you know with this uh board thank you

Thank you, Mr. Villalobos. I also want to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, Idaida Mendez-Cartaya. Welcome. We know that you were here before, and now you're back, so you must have liked what we've been doing here. So welcome back, Ms. Mendez-Cartaya. Mr. Chair.

Yes, sir. If I may. Of course. I want to thank the chairwoman of the board who came before this audit committee and asked us what we would like to see in our next superintendent. And I know that I expressed and other members of this committee expressed the desire that we have someone who's been in a classroom someone who was a principal. And I think we received that in the decision that our school board members made. So I wanna thank the chairwoman for listening, not only to us, but I'm sure other members of the community as well. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Norwood. With that, we'll get to the business at hand. Item number two, approval of this meeting's agenda. Do I have a motion?

Move it.

Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor respond with aye.

Aye.

Item passes. Number three, approval of the minutes of the School Board Audit and Budget Advisory Committee meeting of July 28, 2026. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor respond with aye. Aye. My item passes. Moving to item number four, approval of the proposed audit and budget advisory committee dates for 2027. We have been proposed the dates of February 2nd, 2027, April 6th, 2027, May 25th, 2027, July 27th, 2027, September 21st, 2027, and December 7th, 2027.

Those are the dates of the proposed dates for next calendar year That's what we my team and I Went through the calendar and tried to make the you know, put the best dates and they're avoiding holidays and such So any discussion you may have on it now is the time to talk about it. I

I would just say, I mean, I probably won't be here for the April 6th meeting, but that'll be my one absence, my one excuse to absence. Do I have a motion to pass these dates? Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor respond with aye. Aye. Item passes. I will transfer now to our chair, Mr. Hunter-Johnson, to number five.

Good afternoon, everyone. Apologize for my tardiness. Number five, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Annual Financial Report Unaudited, fiscal year end June 30th, 2026. This is informational, Mr. Goodman.

These are the unaudited financial statements, the annual financial report. We have Ms. Araida Mendez Cartaya. She's an outstanding individual, an outstanding leader. She actually served as the interim chief auditor for a period of time. So with that, I'll turn that over to her.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, members, Mr. Goodman. This is the annual financial report, year end of June 30th of 2026. It was adopted by the school board on September 9th, 2026. It has been transmitted to the Florida Department of Education on Friday, September 11th, as required by state law. This is an abbreviated format, which you've seen before. I believe this is the second year of this format that is also required by the state. The audited annual comprehensive financial statement will be submitted in December, and you'll be seeing that. Some of the highlights, the general fund balance ended at $249 million or 5.3%, higher than was anticipated, but slightly lower than what the school board policy is. Revenues have been trending downward due to decreases in the FEFP and state categorical revenues, mainly due to the decrease in FTEs. and decrease in indirect costs revenue that is generated by grants. In conversations with the superintendent, we are in the process of implementing different processes to ensure that not only do we increase the reserves to what is minimally required by the board, but also to stabilize the school district's financial outlook.

Any questions, comments?

Hearing none, this was informational item. Thank you very much. Number six, internal audit report, selected schools, centers. This is an action item. Mr. Goodman.

Through the chair, Ms. Tamara Wayne, CPA, Assistant Chief Auditor, will make this presentation.

Good afternoon through the chair. Our office is presenting the September school audit report, which includes the audit results of 30 schools and centers. For all of the schools and centers included in this report, the audit scope covered one or two fiscal years ending June 30, 2026. And at one of these schools, there was a change of principal or an administrator since the prior audit. Audit results were satisfactory and the financial statements were fairly stated for all of the schools included in this report and there are no audit findings to report for this group of schools. Our office and district administration are available to answer any questions related to this report.

Thank you very much. Any questions? Hearing none, we'll entertain a motion. It's been properly moved and seconded. All those in favor respond by sound of aye.

Aye.

Thank you very much. Agenda item eight, Office of Management Compliance Audits Activity Status Report.

Through the chair.

Seven, I'm sorry. Seven. 2026 Annual Report, Office of Management Compliance Audits.

This is the annual report, which shows all the activities that we conducted last fiscal year. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Floor is open. Hearing none, this is also an action item. Move. Move, okay. They're probably moved and seconded. Any unreadiness? All those respond by the sound of aye?

Aye.

Now, agenda item eight. Office of Management and Compliance Audits, Activities, Status Report. This is informational, Mr. Goodman.

One thing that I'll bring to your attention is that we conducted, with the help of an outside firm, a... AI assessment and We're gonna be I just wanted the board in the a back to understand that we did this It's exempt from public dissemination for cybersecurity reasons We will have an executive session with the school board in the next coming month but We can't, I don't wanna talk about it too much with the details today, but I did want you to know that we did this important report and artificial intelligence is pervasive in the district, in the world. And so I wanted you to know that we're working on this. And that's what I have to say about this item.

Open it to the floor.

Mr. Chair.

Yes, that's Dr. Bedros. There you go.

I'm so glad that, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm glad that our, Mr. Goodwin, that you're on top of this going forward, and I'm glad that our superintendent is here. We've got to prepare not just us, but our teachers and anyone who works in and around children. Why? Because they're usually ahead of us. So, Mr. Superintendent, through the chair, please make sure that we're prepared I know you will but you know if we sit here and say nothing and my chair is here we've been through a good bit of this thing called we call educating children the chair and I and some of the others and you too so I'm glad you're here Mr. Goodman and others through the chair. Let's make sure that we are on top of this. And I think strongly about our parents too. We've got to make sure that we pass this information that we are doing here through our parents. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

Anyone else? Through the chair, Mr. Goodman, the AI audit that you just talked about, is that in addition to item number seven, or is that item number eight for your future activities, to be clear?

Item number seven is the annual report. That's everything we've done last year. Right. So this one, the activity report, is what we've done since the last ABAC meeting. Got it.

Okay.

So I'm just reporting that we've finished this project with the outside firm and just letting you know that we did it.

So. Through the chair, is that gonna be, I know that you said you're just gonna go to an executive session before the board, is that gonna come to us at all or not really? No, through the chair.

Through the chair. I'd like to also add that today, this morning, I actually had a conversation with a researcher from the University of Florida, and we are looking at how it is that we're going to make improvements to the understanding of AI, the rolling out of AI, not only for teachers and students, administrators and parents, and what that research is going to delineate and how we can use that research to actually formulate training for all that are going to be using AI. And I think that that's going to actually strengthen our position with artificial intelligence and the use of artificial intelligence. And we are probably the only district in this country that is doing it, large district, that is actually doing that research or will conduct that research as well. So I just wanted to add that in so everyone knows. Very good.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Goodman, I just have one question. While the findings of the audit are confidential, do we know generally what is being audited? Is it the use of AI by instructors, students? Is there anything we can say towards what the audit is, not its findings or its scope?

It was primarily a – I wanted to make sure that the cybersecurity controls were in place as we go forward with AI, which we obviously need to go forward with. And as we go forward, we don't want to go too fast. but we have to keep up. But my main concern is, and the main risk, is that cybersecurity issues, that something's gonna, we're gonna, you know, something will go wrong with cybersecurity. Understood, yes.

Through the chair, so just to clarify that point, Mr. Goofman, so the audit is on cybersecurity measures. to ensure that the district is properly positioned for the use and development of AI district-wide, correct?

Correct.

Okay, got it. So it's not an audit of AI governance, it's an audit of cybersecurity measures within the district.

Right.

Thank you.

Anyone else? That item was informational. Agenda item number nine, OIG report, report of investigation, submission of false insurance certificates by MDCPS vendor Casas Construction. This is informational.

Through the chair, we have Mr. Archie Moore from the Inspector General's Office, special agent, and he will do the presentation.

Good afternoon through the chair. My name is Archie Moore. I'm sorry Mr. Gonzalez was unable to be here today. I'm here to brief on an investigation we conducted based on information we received from Procurement Management Services and Risk Management of the submission of false insurance certificates submitted by MDCPS vendor Cassis Construction Inc. In July of 20, between July and August of 2025, CASA submitted certificates of insurance for general liability and automobile liability respectively to the district as part of their contractual agreement. And those certificates showed effective dates, but in fact, they were found to be fraudulent and invalid. And our investigation confirmed that they were invalid through the insurance companies whose names appeared on the certificates of insurance. And as a result, Cassis was suspended from their contract for several months, where they were given opportunity to submit valid certificates of insurance, and then they were reinstated. As a result of our investigation, we submitted three recommendations to the district that were accepted by the district. One of them was for the district to look at any possible administrative sanctions that could be made against this particular vendor for the submission of the fraudulent certificates of insurance. If Chief Procurement Officer Chris Lamont was here, she has some additional information she'd like to provide on that.

Through the chair, good afternoon. So pursuant to school board policy 6320.04, we did issue a notice of termination to Cassis Construction based on the investigation that was received from the IG. And we are working with Cassis and our maintenance team to ensure that the projects that they were pending are actually completed and there's no interruption to our students. and our staff. The other thing is that we are also taking CASA's construction to our next contractor disciplinary review committee meeting and to follow that process to determine sanctions that will be imposed on CASA's constructions for submitting the fraudulent insurance certificates. And then we have also, and I know he's on recommendation one, and recommendation three, we have made modifications to all of our solicitation templates to include anti-fraud language that we've done in conjunction with the Office of General Counsel.

Thank you. Mr. Teller? Through the chair. I have a couple of questions when it comes to this. I mean, Ms. Mumford, if I read the report correctly, I think that the officers of Casas Construction may have fled the country. Did I read that correctly?

Through the chair, I can comment on that. According to the owner, he alleged that he had to leave the country and left the duties to submit the certificates of insurance to a contractor with his company. He claimed he had no knowledge that these certificates of insurance were fraudulent.

Through the chair, a follow-up. Do we have, and I know that we're not obligated to, but I think as one of the recommendations that I would put in is do we, if it doesn't exist, do we have some sort of uh avenue or or some sort of step in the procurement process where we verify these certificates because this is this is a felony yeah all right that's that's that's it's chapter 817 of the florida statutes it's a felony what they did now shame on them right but To me, I think that we also should have some sort of step in the process where we are convalidating these certificates before we afford a contract to one of these vendors, especially one that we would obligate them to have certain levels of liability insurance. Do we have that in place?

Yeah, and through the chair, I am going to allow for my colleague, Mr. Fox, to talk a little bit further, but it is the system that flagged the fraud.

Okay. Good afternoon through the chair. Yes, our office prior to issuing a notice to proceed for any contract of construction, our office reviews the insurance and bonding requirements contained in the general conditions of the contract. We verify the appropriate insurance and bonding. Then the document is uploaded into a system. We use a vendor called Citrax to then we'll track the insurance through the life of the project until there is a final completion on a project. And when there's a renewal during that term, we ask for updated insurance documents, and that's when we kind of flag the problem that we noticed, that there was a discrepancy in the kind of expiration dates with the insurance company.

Through the chair, but do we do that before we afford the contract to the vendor?

Yes, through the chair, yes. Before a notice to proceed is issued, we verify and approve the insurance coverage and the bonding requirements.

And through the chair, do we do that also upon renewals?

Yes.

All right. Through the chair, my last question is, and forgive me, I read this really quick, has this been forwarded to the state attorney?

Yes, yes, through the chair. We did present it to the state attorney's office. They declined to prosecute.

Par for the course. Thank you.

Anyone else? Thank you very much. Thank you. That item was informational.

We're moving right along.

Clearly. Old business. Follow-up items from various prior ABAC meetings. I know, right? A, status update on the recovery of funds related to the duplicate payments made to a vendor by Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center. That's a good one.

Through the chair, Dr. Lewis and Ms. Wayne will weigh in and tell you what the status of this is. This was a duplicate payment found at the last ABAC meeting we presented it. It's not a huge amount of money, but I wanted to put it on the agenda. to make sure that we follow through and follow up on it. So that's what this is. So through the chair, Dr. Lewis, would you like to start?

Thank you, Mr. Goodman. Through the chair, yes, the remaining balance was returned back to the school as of August 20th, 2026. Truly want to thank school leadership, but more importantly, Ms. Wayne as well, for her follow up and due diligence on the said matter.

Thank you. Opening up to the floor. Nothing, thank you for that update. B, follow up to the GOB and the program audit, board policy 6320, legal services procurement and evaluation of the BPO process.

Mr. Goodman? This came up during the end of the GOB audit, which was performed by an outside firm. There were some questions about the procurement process for legal services. Miss Montford has prepared a brief PowerPoint presentation to address the questions that came up at the last committee meeting.

Through the chair, good afternoon again. So I just wanna walk through school board policy 6320 purchasing, address any recent inquiries that we've had related to the GOV audit regarding unauthorized purchase procedures and legal service invoices. And then also present a practical mechanism, the blanket purchase order process that aligns facilities operations with district procurement rules. Oh, man, it's small. Sorry, but I'll talk fast, so hopefully we'll, and you guys have the information as well. During our general obligation bond audit, external auditors confirmed that the GOV program is operating cleanly and transparently. However, they did flag one control issue, which is instances where purchase orders were generated after an invoice was already dated, specifically in an area like legal counsel for transporters. capital projects. So I just wanted to outline the framework pursuant to school board policy 6320 and the rules that allow us to make purchases for legal services pursuant to the exemption. And so there are different tiers of purchases based on dollar thresholds, which you all are aware, tier one being under $24.99, tier two being purchases made between $2,500 and $4,999. and then anything over $50,000 going and requiring a competitive procurement, of which most of you were committee members for, so you understand that process. There is a caveat, though. Our Florida Administrative Code allows for us to utilize exemptions, and there are several exemptions that have literally been delineated in our school board policy 6320 verbatim to allow for us to make purchases where you don't have to do a competitive procurement, and you don't necessarily have to follow the different tiers with the quoting. And one of those provisions, as recently modified by Board Member Espino through one of his items, legal services has its own exemption. And so in terms of just general procurement authority, there is the ability to utilize the exemption for legal services. Also, in our purchasing policy, there is a provision for unauthorized purchases. So unauthorized purchases, from the procurement standpoint, are purchases that are made without a mechanism in place, a contract, a purchase order, a purchase that is made after the fact, which was identified in this GOB audit. And there are obviously some requirements risk to making those types of purchases and therefore our school board policy identifies consequences for unauthorized purchases and our procedures manual also aligns with an actual procedure for if there is an unauthorized purchase what is to be done so there is a justification memo that has to be provided by that specific bureau and then we obviously we pay our bills right The dilemma that we have here is that there is a dynamic difference, and I know Mr. Perez is here, between your traditional procurement-related purchases and then the dynamics that come with a facilities-related purchase. So standard procurement is linear, right? You receive a quotation, you issue a PO, you invoice a PO, make a payment. But GOB projects, the capital projects, they move a little bit more dynamically. So outside counsel or like specialized engineers are brought in, work happens in real time, and invoices follow. So Policy 6320 grants legal services as an exemption from competitive bidding, but it still requires pre-encumbrance of funds. so to resolve this issue without slowing down the process um any and slowing down any gov products projects we are coordinating with facilities to do the blanket purchase order process which is a process that is defined in the procurement procedures manual it is a process that is used by schools and departments this is not a new process it is a it is where we do a pre-encumbrance of a set dollar amount which is essentially like a I don't want to say retainer because we don't do retainers. But it is a pre-encumbrance, a hold. So if we think legal services may cost $2,000 or $3,000, we hold the $3,000. And then as the legal services are needed for that specific GOB project, they invoice against that pre-encumbrance, that blanket PO. And then at the conclusion of that, then we close the purchase order and the funds go back into the account that it started in. And this allows for 100% compliance with our school board policy. It allows for us no after-the-fact purchase orders. And it also aligns with the procurement management services procedures manual, which defines what the limit type purchase order is and gives you the provision. So the path moving forward is just planning the pipeline planning, working with facilities for any potential projects, specifically in the areas where we know legal services, sometimes engineers, areas where professional services are required outside of usage of a general contractor. and then also issuing the blanket purchase orders where practical and where possible, and then also having exceptions in place in the event that an attorney is needed, which is the unauthorized purchase process, which is submitting a justification memo and having that information documented, and then that would allow for them to be audit ready. And with that, that is my very brief and quick tie to the school board policy 6320, the path moving forward for after the fact purchases as it relates to GOB related purchases. Does anyone have any questions?

Open the floor, any questions? Yes.

Thank you, through the chair. So I'm glad that the blanket purchase order process is being implemented, which is a standard for these type of services. But that being said, will the vendors then go through the same vendorization process when you establish a blanket purchase order? In other words, the vendor will have to be vendorized in the system? Yes. And go through the appropriate due diligence process for all vendors? Yes. Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. Anyone else? Mr. Taylor? Through the chair, I think this would probably be for Mr. Perez, probably my question, but where do we sit now presently with the GOB? I know that we've been sunsetting it. I mean, what's left and how much longer do we have here?

Good afternoon, everyone. Raul Perez, Chief Facilities Officer. And yes, you're absolutely right. We have our upcoming advisory committee meeting, GOB 21st Century Advisory Committee meeting next Tuesday at 3.30. The program itself is pretty much at the back end of the implementation. OF THE 339 MAIN GOB PROJECTS, I BELIEVE THERE'S ONLY 11 THAT ARE STILL REMAINING TO BE COMPLETED AND FOR THE MOST PART ALL OF THEM WILL PROBABLY BE COMPLETED SOMETIME IN 2027. There is conversations. We're starting to have conversations. One of the agenda topics for that committee meeting is the actual sunsetting of the committee since the program is pretty much dollars. We are north of the $1.2 billion in expenditures. So the bond originally was one for 1.2. There's a little bit more due to interest that was earned during that time. So I would expect probably sometime in early 27 to mid 27 would probably be the perfect time to sunset that committee.

Mr. Chair, one follow-up. I know that we had talked before that there is interest, and that's why we are over the $1.2 billion. Will there be remaining funds? It's a two-part question. Will there be remaining funds left from that interest, or will it all be spent on other GOB-related projects? And if not, is that money going back to the district operation?

So the GOB was intended for facilities improvements. It was voted by the voters of Miami-Dade County for that. There will be some residual funds that still remain. Those will all be included in our capital funding along with our capital funding, our local capital millage that we get every year in upcoming renovations. And those are all sourced by different funding structures. But yes, all those dollars Are geared to go to facilities improvements Thank You mr.

Chair and Thank You mr. Perez I love the fact that we're going to be looking very closely at those buildings and facilities that might have been slowly attended attended to, and of course the funding that we're talking about, I would hope that we'd look very carefully at how we can use that to catch up with where we are. If it's possible, of course, following all rules, that would be very interesting how we do that, but if it can be done, hopefully you will make it happen.

Through the chair, absolutely correct, Dr. Bendres-Mendengal. And as was originally intended, the GOB fund under full transparency, of course, the committee was created, but any movement in funds comes to the board through what I call an F21 item that comes through facilities. So it would show where the dollars are coming from. For instance, projects that are closed out and those dollars are no longer needed. They're coming into central contingency, and then where those dollars will be going to. So each and every penny of the GOB has been tracked in that manner, and the remaining residual funds that we have will be reprogrammed in that manner as well.

Follow up, Mr. Chair? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Perez, if at all possible, I know you'll make it happen. I'd like to sit with you on some additional concerns that would happen, that are happening in some of the schools, especially in the districts. Some districts, District 2, schools are so old, they're deplorable. So I would, you know, sooner than later, if we could have a sit down on this issue.

Absolutely, ma'am. I'll make myself available. And I actually believe that we have a meeting scheduled with you to go over the five-year capital plan.

Thank you so much. You're welcome. Mr. Perez. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Talley.

One follow-up, excuse me. Mr. Goodman, just a question. Once the GOB wraps up, what is the plan for an audit of, is there gonna be a final audit there, and is that gonna be handled? I guess the answer's no to that, so I'm not gonna get my follow-up.

It's, that was it. The audit that you got a few months ago, that was the final audit. So the expenditures were, they were substantially complete. So that's when we did the audit. So yes, there's a little money left over after that, but most of it was done, so that's when we did the audit.

Anyone else? Thank you very much. Oh yes, absolutely.

I just want to say I really was unhappy that they were having this meeting. I've written you and it said it on the day and the time you're having it because it's on the same time, not exactly, but the day that we're meeting and the superintendent is coming to Miami Beach Senior High School where we're going to be meeting him and the parents are coming and to have that meeting on the same time to me was not a good idea. I will try to be here, and I will try to be there, but I think something could have been better communicated and worked out. That's all. I just wanted you to know how I felt about it.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am, go ahead.

I'm confused on one thing. There was a notification a while back that there's going to be new construction starting at Coconut Grove Elementary. Isn't that coming through the GOB? And how is a final audit done when there's a new building that's begun to be built?

Through the chair, the addition at Coral Gables Elementary, again, is what I mentioned earlier. Coconut Grove. I mean, Coconut Grove. There are residual GOB funds that are being reprogrammed into new upcoming capital projects. It was not part of the original GOB program, but that's what I mentioned before. Those dollars are being reprogrammed and re-included into... capital projects that we have ongoing and along with our local capital millage. So there'll be some GOB funds within that project, but it's not completely and totally funded through the GOB. There is local capital millage that goes with it.

Anyone else? Hearing none, thank you very much. C, follow-up to request for technical guidance regarding charter school fund transfers and financial transparency. Just to give a little bit of background, we've been asking now for months with the DOE concerning the treatment of parent companies for our charter schools and how we approach our audits moving forward. Mr. Goodman, do we have any updates?

This is one of our favorite subjects. What are we entitled to? What are we entitled to see as far as public funds going to charter schools and then how they're ultimately used? Are we privy to that information? So yes, we have not reached out further to the Department of Education. They've made it clear after four you know four attempts from us to try to get an answer an opinion on what the parameters are they're not going to give us one so we don't have now the charter schools for this fiscal year are coming in right now we're receiving them for the year ended June 30th 2026 so I'm going to be looking at those and see what disclosures they have in the audit and then make a determination with my team as to whether we want to ask for the information and demand the information that we can see it with our own eyes, as far as where the parent company's financial statements, as well as the bank accounts that the transferred monies are supposed to be in. So, or are we going to rely on their, the audited financial statements? So, at this time, we don't have, we haven't had enough time, hasn't gone by, but that's a decision that we'll have to make in conjunction, myself, my team, in conjunction with the ABAC members, and as to how much we want to push on that. If we can satisfy ourselves that the money is not being misappropriated by reviewing their audited financial statements, which are done by a, you know, licensed CPA firms, then, you know, we'll have to decide whether we want to see it ourselves or we can rely on that information. So that's where we are. We don't have anything... I have a feeling that you guys are going to want to talk about it, though, today. Yeah, I have a question.

So this is the $28 million. that a group of charter schools have transferred to their parent company. Is that what we're talking about or something else?

Yeah, it's closer to $50 million plus. $50 million.

In the aggregate. $50 million that was transferred from charter school accounts to a parent company. That's what we're talking about.

Correct.

Right, and you're being asked to, well, we're not being asked, we're being asked to review their financial statements, not seeing where those monies lie. Because we're not seeing them. We're relying upon a third-party CPA to tell us, you can't see it, but I can see it, and I'm telling you that it's there unencumbered. Is that what we're talking about, John? Correct. Right. And so the last time that we got the confirmation that those dollars were unencumbered was how long ago?

That was for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Right.

And since then, we sent a letter to the Auditor General asking the Auditor General to opine on whether that was an appropriate response to our request to receive that information about those public dollars. And the Auditor General said, you need to take that to the DOE Commissioner. Is that correct?

Correct.

Correct. Right. And in the process of saying that, he said, he made a comment in that letter saying that it appears or maybe it might cause concern for your accountability as a school district to regulate essentially those dollars, to account for those dollars. And we sent a letter to DOE, I don't know, six, seven months ago now? and they have yet to respond officially to the largest school district in this state in response to over $50 million that we have concern with. And they have not responded or called you when you sent them a letter.

Correct, through the chair, yes, we sent them two letters over the course of six or eight months. We sent them two letters and we had two documented phone calls. All of them were unanswered.

Right, and I don't mean to cross-examine you like this, but I want the superintendent, our new superintendent, I want Ms. Sarida, I'm sorry, Ms. Kataya, something like that, I'm sorry.

Be correct.

Who I've known for a very long time, by the way. Exactly. And I want our school board member who is now a part of our audit committee to understand clearly how our school district, in my estimation, is being disrespected by the state of Florida. And I'm done.

And if I may add to that, Dr. Bendros-Mendigal, not only our school district, but all school districts, because this is going to work until it doesn't. When one of these parent companies inevitably fails because business says something's going to happen somewhere along the way, everyone's going to ask us, well, why didn't you look? So, you know, this has been a burning issue. Dr. Bendros-Mendigal?

Yes, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank my appointee for getting to the bottom of this. You know, I wasn't here, but I do watch on, well, I watch if I'm not here. I want us to understand that there's some of us on this stage, those of us who have been working from Tallahassee for years, and when we hear someone say it's coming, believe it. We've been debating charter schools for a long time. What happens in charter schools? And I don't think, I know, we all should know what is happening. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Norwood, for bringing this. And for us to hear, well, I'm hearing it. I don't know about others. If someone would dare not reply.

Mr.

Chair, we have to make it known that we expect an answer. We're not going to sit and wait for an answer. We're in dire straits as it relates to our teachers and our children of public schools. And when parents see us wherever, they want to know what's going on. We need an answer. We need an answer that they can all understand. And I go back to my appointee. Thank you for making it so clear. Thank you.

Thank you. John, it sounds to me like we need to send another letter. Oh, go ahead, Mr. Taylor.

Yeah, through the chair. I just had one comment. I believe that during one of, I think this is like the fourth time we've brought this up, third or fourth time, Mr. Norwood. I think during one of the last meetings, and I believe it was you, Mr. Chair, that brought this up, about just asking for it and having somebody object to it. Say no. Say no. Is that a possibility? I think that I posed the question to Mr. Harvey, and there's no... There's no rule against it. So is that even a possibility, John, where we could request the information and see what the response is from the individual companies? Forget Tallahassee for a second.

Well, through the chair, we always have requested it. We always request it, like a bunch of times, very forcefully. But then send a deficiency letter. Certain members of the management company's leadership, we've had it out. Let me leave it at that. and uh... but at the end of the day so we have asked for it's not like we haven't we've been shy about asking for it information we want to know where the public money is going and we think we need to see certain financial statements that show where the transfers of fifty million dollars in public funds are have landed so You know, going forward, the other thing is the Department of Education has made it clear. I know that they've gotten these letters, and they've chosen to not respond to us. As far as if you want to do something further, the other thing we did is we did send a letter to the school board from the ABAC. The ABAC directed me to craft a letter to the school board apprising them of this. And if they wanted to take additional action, obviously the school board, I report to the school board. I don't tell them what to do. Same with the audit committee. So the next letter, if there is to be one, would have to come from probably the school board, not from the auditor, at a higher level, to the commissioner of education type of thing. So that's one option. But what I'm saying is it may or may not be necessary for us to actually look at their bank accounts with our own eyes. If they hire an external auditor, that auditor is required by law and standards to perform attestation services. attesting that the money is where they say it is it's been it's been transferred from these x number of charter schools to the one parent account and it's sitting in a certain bank account earning whatever percent interest uh... and it has not been further dispersed for something else buying land or whatever okay so there's there's really there's two ways you can handle this going forward you can read you can continue to rely on the external their external auditor which again that's a that's a reasonable that's not unreasonable to do because they have to get their certified public accountants license and they have responsibilities and obligations so if they give us a report and it's inaccurate or misleading, that's a big problem. So they can't just say, yes, the money's here and it hasn't been misused. They have to have done testing and make sure that the public money is in the right place, it hasn't been misused. So that's one option. So we don't necessarily have to look at it with our own eyes but that's what we're discussing here and you know i mister more mister norwood i'd certainly get his point i'd you know i in general i strongly believe that public tax dollars we need to know where they go so that's what we're talking about here uh... as far as the next If you want to have another communication with the Florida Department of Education, it would have to come from the school board.

So two points very quickly. The first that comes to mind is this. Is there a minimum insurance coverage amount required for accountants that you rely on when you accept their audit findings? Like, you know, because $50 million on a $5 million policy is a waste of everyone's time, except the lawyers. The lawyers will get paid. I don't know what their insurance policy is. And it wasn't a gotcha, John. It raises a point, which is if you're saying, hey, this is a licensed CPA, and they've sent me a letter, and I'm going to rely on that letter, that works until it doesn't. Right? My other point is...

Okay, so if a public CPA firm presents a substandard or misleading report, intentionally misleading report, regarding public funds, that could be a criminal activity.

What's that got to do with us getting our $50 million back? I understand what you're saying, and I get it, but if the goal is to safeguard the resources and make sure those resources are going where they're supposed to go, I'm licensed, Mr. Attala's licensed, I'd like to think neither one of us would ever do anything to lose our license, but I want to remind everybody, lawyers lose their licenses daily. I say that to say this. I don't know that there's a rule that prohibits us from sending a follow-up letter asking the same question we've already asked twice, laying out that we've asked the question twice with no answer. CCing the board and asking the board to perhaps do the same, I don't think they're mutually exclusive. So I don't think just waiting on our laurels, because your next round of audits is coming.

Correct.

you've made this fight, you've made this fight publicly, you can continue to have the fight, and then you can turn when you get these letters back from various accounting firms, some of whom you've heard of, some of whom you had to Google, and say, okay, we still want the information, and have a stack of letters to rely on to say, and unless you can call Tallahassee and get them to tell me I can't have it, I'm going to expect to see my information. It does give you a little bit more gravitas when you have these inevitable fights, I think is my point. Understood.

Mr. Chair, if I may, I see two issues here. One has to do with the auditor's mission to be accountable and show accountability to the dollars that charter schools have, that he can see. The other issue to me is more of a public information issue. And this leads me to my question, if we were to make a request, a public information request for that, would we be able to see it through a public information request?

Of the charter school holding company?

Of where those dollars are. Through a simple public information request.

For the parent company.

Right.

Mr. Harvey question.

I hate to through the chair. I hate to bring mr. Harvey into every he's in he's get he's involved with everything in the whole district in full time if full disclosure That was my mutterance when when the question came up this army through the chair I thought a quite I thought a request had been made to the parent company Through the chair.

So this is an ongoing issue with multiple parent companies involved. I

No, not to interrupt, I don't think there's been a public information request. Yeah, he's asking if it's 119 eligible. Yeah, I think the auditor has made a request, but I don't think he's made a public information request. So my question is, if we made a public information request to either the parent company or the charter school itself, would they be required to provide us the information?

Through the chair, it's... Yes, I mean there are certain documents that we can make a request for the parent company. If the funds are public funds, we could make a request and see what their response would be under those circumstances.

Requests can be made. So with that being said, I would like to make a motion for our auditor to make a public information request for the documents that he and this committee has requested from these charter schools.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded, any discussion?

Yes, Mr.

Chair.

Yes. Are we gonna be involved in that as a school board? I'm ready, set, go to the motion, but I wanna make sure that we're directing our auditor with the right information coming from, and I don't think I said when I did my introduction, I'm representing the school board. I wanna make sure I do like the idea also, Mr. Norwood. Do we have to put any information in the narrative that we're talking about, putting together to request the public dollars?

Yeah, through the chair. So I can do that through my office. without, I can simply, this go around as the audits come in and we analyze and review the audits, I can simply make that official public records request as part of our process. So I can do that and that won't involve asking the DOE for anything more, for guidance or anything, and it won't involve, it won't go up to the school board level either because I can do that just by simply requesting the information through an official public records request.

We still have a pending motion. A couple points on that, though, John. The first one is you've gone, that's an existing merry-go-round. It is a problem you've already faced. And you faced it with some significant pushback from certain, not all, but certain companies vis-a-vis others. but it's an issue that comes up when you do the audits of specific schools over a period of time. And I believe at a prior meeting, I had suggested putting them all on notice that you intend to ask for this information and let them cry to the DOE that we should be stopped. Because, you know, funny thing that sometimes administrators will respond to business interests before they respond to the people. But to take the firm position in your office that when we come auditing, we intend to audit through to the end. And this includes seeing where you've sent our monies to, even if it goes to a parent company. And then you can include language in your audit letter advising that, you know, accept this pursuant to this audit demand or 119 or however you want to accept it, but we expect it. And I think that conforms with the present and pending motion that's on the table ready to be voted on. So it just allows you to put everybody on notice that will be asking for it. If somebody else wants to complain, they can complain, but it does resolve this particular issue from your office's standpoint moving forward, no? Yeah.

Through the chair, could I ask the ABAC to wait a little bit on this in terms of what I had in mind was waiting for the audits to come in for this year They start coming in in September. We review them in October through March and then present them to you through May. So we have time to make some decisions here. But I would, before we do anything additional, we've done a lot. I would like to see what they send us in the first place. Maybe they'll send us some audit reports that are very explicit as to where the monies are and this kind of thing. And I would like to look it over with my team and maybe have some conversations. with the abac members uh... and uh... and then i would like to wait until the december early december abac meeting to actually do anything additional official until we get more information from them that's what i would prefer i mean i hear all your your various arguments and they're all good arguments and my preference would be to not to immediately, not to act further at this point until I get more information. But if the board wants to direct me, if the committee wants to direct us to do otherwise, like what you, I guess you already did in the sense,

Right, no, no, I'm gonna let you get that off, and then I was just gonna call the question.

And let me just preface that by, John, what we're asking for, any citizen in this country could request the information. So we're not doing anything other than anybody in this county could ask for this information under disguise. Nothing different than anybody else.

The parent companies are their not-for-profit 501c3 companies. Yeah, companies. Corporations. And I'm not sure whether they're whether they're subject to a public records request or not. I don't know.

Yeah, let's see what the response is, because I would love to see a company that's taken $50 million, not taken, but transferred $50 million of public dollars to that company and to the charter school itself. So I'm not suggesting that this just goes to the parent company. I'm saying it goes to the parent company and the charter school. And I would love to see the justification under public information that we cannot see those. I would love to see what their justification will be for that. Yeah.

And through the chair, we would be asking for the audited financial statements and probably the bank accounts in which the money resides, the public money resides. Those two things are probably the main things we would be looking for.

I believe so. And what I'm asking, under normal circumstances, are those records under a charter school bank account, can we, under public records requests, can we receive that information?

That's a, I don't know.

Well, I would direct that to Mr. Harvey. A charter school, if we requested their financial statements and any bank records relevant to that, is that not a part of what we can request?

Through the chair, just sitting here without seeing the records, I couldn't find appropriately. I do think Mr. Goodman does have a point in that you know, obviously all the statements would not be public records. It would be, it would have to relate to the transfer of K-12 funds. Correct. So it would have to be that. And then I know, you know, there's a lot of records that can be requested just under general nonprofit law. Like, you know, obviously they're, you know, they have to file their 990 statements, et cetera. just generally. So all of that information would be available, should be available to the public. But as far as the public record aspect, the chapter 119 public records, that could just be limited to those funds that would relate to the district, which may or may not be the case. all the records, so I don't think we would be entitled to all the records, but Mr. Goodman probably has more information on that than I do.

So we would be referring to the relevant transactions that we're speaking of, and I'm sure, John, you'll figure that out. Mr. Chair?

Any further discussion? Call the question. All those in favor, respond by a sound aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Hearing none, you've got your direction, Mr. Goodman. Got it, thank you. Love that.

D, update concerning the transmittal of the educational facilities impact fee study, pursuant to state legislation and prior board action.

Mister this has been on the on our agenda for about three years since we did an audit of this and identified that Our impact fees were lower than Any of the other major school systems in the state much lower and hadn't been adjusted for 28 years So I don't think anything has happened since the last a back meeting as far as this but Mr. Harvey, through the chair, I don't think anything significant has really happened in this.

Not yet through the chair. Maybe by January we expect something.

Any questions? Mr. Taylor?

Yeah, through the chair, Mr. Harvey, when you say we expect something, I mean, is there a talk? Are we expecting an increase or are we expecting to remain the same? I mean, you could elaborate a little bit on that.

Yes, through the chair, so at the last meeting I mentioned the county had an issue with SB 180, which they felt was applicable, which we disagreed with. Well, SB 180, the applicability of that statute expires in January. And then we have a former audit committee member who's gonna be a commissioner, so that might move things as well.

Mr. Harvey, just to follow up that question, would the property tax amendment negatively impact that one way or the other? Because I can't imagine a scenario where a county might fight to hold on to whatever dollars it can from wherever it can.

Yes, through the chair. So there are some, you know, I've had some conversations with some of their attorneys and staff, and they do have some new people over there. But as far as Amendment 3, it doesn't apply. So impact fees are not a tax. It is a payment to defer the costs associated with development. So it's not a tax, and that's how it's determined. So it would not be impacted at all. And we do eventually, our current interlocal agreement governing impact fees is gonna expire probably within the next four or five years. So that's gonna have to be updated as well. So it's something they're gonna have to address.

Thank you. Anything else? Thank you, Mr. Harvey. Any new business?

Yes, sir. Through the Chair, Miami-Dade County is the gateway to the Americas. Today we proudly celebrate Central American Independence Day and the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to recognize the history, culture, perseverance, and contributions that continue to strengthen our communities. From Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, to Costa Rica, whose independence is commemorated today, to the many nations and cultures represented through Hispanic America, our heritage reminds us that differences enrich us and our shared values unite us. Happy Central American Independence Day and Hispanic Heritage Month, and I thank you for always giving me a chance to point these things out.

You always get a voice with me, I love it. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month, everybody. Anyone else? Happy New Year as well. Anyone else? Hearing none, please.

This is Lashana Tova.

Lashana Tova. There we go. Thank you, Mr. Goodman. Entertain a motion to adjourn? It's the only unanimous thing I got all day out of everybody immediately. Thank you very much, everyone.