ST. LOUIS — Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick announced Thursday his office will conduct an audit of Saint Louis Public Schools.
According to a press release, the State Auditor's Office was "already committed to an audit of the district" as part of a plan to regularly review the performance of schools in Missouri. The release said the recent requests from public officials and the issues the district is experiencing have sped up the timeline of the audit.
Originally, the plan was to audit the district later this year. Now, the audit will begin on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
"This is a situation we've monitored closely and in fact already had this audit on our audit plan for Fiscal Year 2025. While we acknowledge the call made by public officials, the call we're answering is from the families who are worried about the quality of the education their children will receive, and taxpayers who want to know if their tax dollars have been used responsibly," Fitzpatrick said. "Our goal is to conduct a thorough review of the district that will hopefully shed some additional light on the issues that have been well-documented in the press, but also provide a path forward for the Board and school officials to make improvements that will lead to a district that is managed more efficiently and effectively."
Fitzpatrick said their survey work will guide them to their main goal but admitted a focus is on procurement and the budget.
Following the announcement of Superintendent Dr. Keisha Scarlett being placed on temporary leave, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones wrote a letter to State Auditor Fitzpatrick on Friday.
It said Saint Louis Public Schools began last school year with a surplus budget of $17 million. Now, it has a projected deficit of $35 million.
Jones' letter said the city would seek proposals for auditing services for the school board and asked Fitzpatrick's office to do a companion audit.
The release said the State Auditor's Office will take Jones' request to look at several areas including the SLPS operating budget, contracts that may have been used to vendors with connection to the Scarlett, contracts issued without competitive bidding requirements or scrutiny from the Board and contracts given to staffers who worked with her at her former employer under consideration.
Fitzpatrick added, "These are items we'll look at. If they were compliant with state law as well as district policies."
The first to make an audit request was State Rep. Donna Baringer, who was also at the news conference.
Baringer, who represents the City of St. Louis said, "Why didn’t this money go into the schools, pay for teachers, why didn’t money go into transportation?"
Fitzpatrick said the district has been cooperative so far. Fitzpatrick believes the audit could take a year to complete.
"The goal of the audit is to get to the bottom of the story and provide the facts," he added.
The district released the following statement regarding the audit:
"Saint Louis Public Schools welcomes the decision by Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office to conduct financial and operational audits of the District.
"These types of audits, while time-consuming for our staff, are always helpful both for transparency and for identifying areas for improvement.
"The District, of course, will cooperate fully with the auditor’s office."
Individuals may provide confidential information for consideration during the audit to the State Auditor's Whistleblower Hotline at 800-347-8597, by email at moaudit@auditor.mo.gov or by visiting their website.