Report 2019-104 Recommendation 34 Responses

Report 2019-104: Youth Experiencing Homelessness: California's Education System for K-12 Inadequately Identifies and Supports These Youth (Release Date: November 2019)

Recommendation #34 To: Education, Department of

To ensure that it has the resources necessary to effectively meet its responsibilities under federal law, Education should complete a staffing analysis by May 2020 to determine the resources needed to meet its responsibilities for homeless education. This analysis should consider the resources needed to implement all of the recommendations in this report.

1-Year Agency Response

Will not implement. Education does not have any additional comments regarding this recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Will Not Implement

Although Education stated in its previous response that it does not anticipate needing additional resources for the program, the state coordinator told us during the audit, as we describe on page 50 of our report, that it still needs additional staff. We also conclude on that same page that Education has not clearly identified how many staff it needs to adequately meet its responsibilities under the homeless education program. Further, the governor vetoed Assembly Bill 16 in October 2019, which would have provided Education an additional 1.5 staff for its homeless education program. In his veto message, the governor noted that the need for additional staff was better considered during the annual budget process. Because Education would need to substantiate any request for additional staff when making a budget request, we believe that it is critical for Education to perform a staffing analysis to determine exactly how many staff it will need to meet all of its responsibilities for its homeless education program. Without such an analysis, Education lacks a basis to secure the necessary resources to administer the State's homeless education program appropriately.

6-Month Agency Response

Will not implement. Education does not have any additional comments regarding this recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Will Not Implement

Although Education states in its response that it does not anticipate needing additional resources for the program, the state coordinator told us during the audit, as we describe on page 50 of our report, that it still needs additional staff. We also conclude on that same page that Education has not clearly identified how many staff it needs to adequately meet its responsibilities under the homeless education program. Further, the governor vetoed Assembly Bill 16 in October 2019, which would have provided Education an additional 1.5 staff for its homeless education program. In his veto message, the governor noted that the need for additional staff was better considered during the annual budget process. Because Education would need to substantiate any request for additional staff when making a budget request, we believe that it is critical for Education to perform a staffing analysis to determine exactly how many staff it will need to meet all of its responsibilities for its homeless education program. Without such an analysis, Education lacks a basis to secure the necessary resources to administer the State's homeless education program appropriately.

60-Day Agency Response

Will not implement. Education continues to not concur with this recommendation. As previously stated, Education does not anticipate needing additional resources for this program due to the augmentation of 2.5 FTE to the existing number of staff. However, if the homeless education workload increases in the future and more staff are needed, then Education will take the necessary steps to effectively meet its responsibilities.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Will Not Implement

Although Education states in its response that it does not anticipate needing additional resources for the program, the state coordinator told us during the audit, as we describe on page 50 of our report, that it still needs additional staff. We also conclude on that same page that Education has not clearly identified how many staff it needs to adequately meet its responsibilities under the homeless education program. Further, the governor vetoed Assembly Bill 16 in October 2019, which would have provided Education an additional 1.5 staff for its homeless education program. In his veto message, the governor noted that the need for additional staff was better considered during the annual budget process. Because Education would need to substantiate any request for additional staff when making a budget request, we believe that it is critical for Education to perform a staffing analysis to determine exactly how many staff it will need to meet all of its responsibilities for its homeless education program. Without such an analysis, Education lacks a basis to secure the necessary resources to administer the State's homeless education program appropriately.

All Recommendations in 2019-104

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.