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Columbus Community School Declared “Unauditable”

First group impacted by new law requiring school leaders to get finances in order or lose state funding

Monday, March 17, 2008

Columbus -

Auditor of State Mary Taylor declared The Montessori Renaissance Experience community school “unauditable”, or unable to be audited due to missing or incomplete financial records, for fiscal year 2007.  Because of legislation enacted by the state legislature in June 2007, funding will cease if the charter school fails to submit proper financial documents to conduct an effective audit within 90 days.

The Auditor of State has notified Kids Count of Dayton, Inc., the school’s sponsor, and the Ohio Department of Education that the school has failed to submit documents showing how tax dollars were spent.  If financial statements and records are not brought into an auditable condition within 90 days, state funding for the school will stop until the situation is corrected. 

Within 45 days, Kids Count of Dayton, Inc., must provide the Auditor of State with a written plan describing their efforts to provide the documentation necessary to conduct an audit.  Additionally, they are prohibited from opening any additional community schools while the finances of The Montessori Renaissance Experience are considered “unauditable”.

In 2007, Taylor hosted the first ever statewide series of financial training workshops for community schools and plans another series of training sessions in 2008. The voluntary workshops offered financial, accounting and compliance training to community school sponsors, administrators, fiscal officers, board members and management companies. In total, 270 individuals participated in the training workshops.