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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
October 1, 2002
Report No. 2002-107
Minor improvements to Parents as Teachers program could increase current success
Auditors found the $30.3 million state-funded parent education program - Parents as Teachers - is run fairly by the education department in 522 school districts.� Changing procedures for allocating program funding and monitoring program expenditures would further improve the program.
Program participants called program successful
Eighty-nine percent of the participants surveyed by auditors (187 current and inactive parent educators and 64 program coordinators) said the program met its goal.� About 81 percent said the program successfully reached new parents.� (See page 3)
Program lost some funds which went unused
In fiscal year 2001, 85 schools returned more than $288,000 of the $30.3 million� program funds to the department after not serving enough families as set in quotas.� One school returned $66,000, while two schools returned all the money received.� These funds could not be reallocated to other schools in need because the funds went back to the state's General Revenue Fund at fiscal year end.� If the district required interim reporting of� progress toward the family served quotas,� the state could redistribute the "unused" funds to other programs.� (See page 8)
More monitoring needed of� program expenditures
Department officials do not require school districts to submit actual program expenditure reports for review and do not analyze expenditures during routine monitoring visits or evaluations.� Department officials only request expenditure information after complaints occur or an evaluation shows an accounting issue.� (See page 9)
Allocating funds off census data does not work
Department officials allocate program funds based on the census population of children from birth to age five in a district.� But census data often� misrepresents the area by the time the department uses it.� In fiscal year 2001, 39 districts served more than 100 percent of the district's families counted in the 2000 census data.�� As a result, in the next fiscal year, department officials set quotas above 100 percent of the families.� (See page 7)
Parent educator pay and some unsupportive districts curbs recruitment
Fifty percent of the inactive parent educators surveyed said they left the program to become full-time teachers for increased pay and benefits.� Missouri parent educator pay ranged from approximately $20,000 to less than $1,500� per educator per year, according to 1999 state data.� The national average pay for a parent educator equaled $35,000 annually for a 40-hour work week and $17,500 for a 20-hour work week.� (See page 5)
Forty-three percent of the current educators surveyed wanted more support from the district.� Survey respondents said some administrators and school boards did not care about the program, did not provide office supplies or a work space.
