- Preparing for an Open Doors State Audit
- What will the state auditors be looking for?
- What should we expect when the state auditor arrives?
- Is there a connection between OSPI’s Compliance Reviews and state audits?
- How can we verify that our documentation is accurate for a future audit?
Preparing for an Open Doors State Audit
The State Auditor’s Office (SAO) has started their first audits of Open Doors programs, beginning last year with larger programs, mostly in Western Washington, and continuing this year with mostly established programs. Generally, about ten Open Doors Reengagement programs are audited in a year.
Before the state auditor arrives, your district business office will receive notice that your program will be audited, and will specify an arrival date. In most cases, the auditor will only visit your program for one day, but they may spend several days in the district auditing other programs.
What will the state auditors be looking for?
State auditors will be going through student records to verify that the key components required through Chapter 392-700 WAC are in place in order to claim enrollment FTE. They will ask for student files, usually up to 10 files or 10% of your program enrollment, and a specific student list will be provided to you, up to three weeks or more in advance of the audit. The list will be composed of students from a specific enrollment month during the previous school year.
Before the auditor arrives, prepare the following student documentation items so that they are immediately available to the auditor:
- Student Eligibility
- Age
- Credit deficiency or recommendation
- Standardized testing in math and reading within 30 days of enrollment
- Enrollment and exit dates
- Documentation of the student's course of study
- Choice transfer form if the student is a non-resident
- Attendance
- In-person participation on or before first claim
- Weekly status checks (may be one-way)
- Monthly cumulative two (2) hours of Face-to-Face contact for the purpose of instruction, case management, and/or academic or career advising.
- Indicators of Academic Progress (IAPs)
- Type of IAP earned and date achieved
- Must be in place for each 4th enrollment claim, not including September
- Includes continuous enrollment spanning one school year to the next
- Calendar showing 900 hours (2017-18) or 1000 hours (2018-19) of available program instructional time. Prepared calculations are helpful.
- Additional documentation as requested in the notice.
Spreadsheets are fine for consolidating the data, but be prepared with back up documentation: eligibility forms, credit deficiency calculations, sign in sheets, email logs, test scores & dates, achievement certificates, IAPs dates, etc.
What should we expect when the auditor arrives?
One program contact person
One person should be designated as the primary contact for the auditor. This person should know the program, and should know where everything is that might be requested, and most of all, will be readily available as the point of contact for questions.
Quiet workspace
Make sure the auditor has a quiet place to work, complete with table, comfortable desk chair, pens, pencils. You are welcome to offer water or coffee, but the auditor will likely not accept more than that. Make sure they know where the restrooms are, and whom to contact if they would like photocopies of any documents.
Yes or No; "I'll find out"
As the auditor goes through the files, answer questions that are asked, but do not provide additional information. This is not the time to expound upon all the features of your program! Most of the time “Yes” or “No” answers will suffice. If you don't know the answer, tell them you don't know, but will find out. The auditor wants to be efficient but thorough, and additional topics brought up may complicate the audit.
No audit results
The auditor will not provide results of the audit while they are onsite. Your administration or business office will receive a subsequent written report of their documentation review.
Is there a connection between OSPI’s Compliance Reviews and state audits?
OSPI’s Compliance Reviews are a support that OSPI's Alternative Learning Department provides to programs to help those programs prepare for an SAO audit. These reviews are also a requirement from the initial Open Doors legislation.
| OSPI |
SAO |
- reviews are at no cost
- looks at practices supporting student engagement
- is an opportunity to share about the program
- communicates mostly at program level
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- audits cost the district
- looks only at WAC requirements
- is not a time to share about the program
- communicates mostly at district level
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OSPI communicates with the state auditors through:
- comparing general documentation expectations
- responding to compliance topics
- assisting in developing file review strategies
How can we verify that our documentation is accurate for a future audit?
Request an OSPI Compliance Review!
Our compliance reviews look at the current year files so that current practices and enrollment can be adjusted toward better compliance before an audit takes place. We also seek promising practices that can be shared with other programs.
*This* is the time to share all those wonderful features and successes of your program!
To schedule a compliance review, contact Liz Quayle, ALE and Reengagement Compliance Manager: liz.quayle@k12.wa.us; 360-688-8104.
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