Representatives from CliftonLarsenAllen, an accounting firm, presented the findings of a June 30, 2017, audit of specific financials and a single audit at a State Board of Education meeting. CliftonLarsenAllen, a Minnesota-based accounting firm, conducted the audits for the State Auditor’s Office. A scathing legislative report in September suggested that the department had improperly bid for and spent money on multiple contracts for similar services. Stacey Pickering, the State Auditor, strongly criticized the department’s poor contracting practices in her report. Pickering’s Office also performed a compliance audit, and forensic audit on MDE. The compliance audit confirmed many conclusions from the legislative report. The U.S. Department of Education ordered a forensic audit to investigate allegations that former state education officials had mismanaged Title I funds and 21st Century Community Learning Center (or after school) funds in 2016. Felicia Gavin, MDE Chief Operating Officer, told the board that in October, the U.S. Department of Education ordered a forensic audit to examine how former state education officials mismanaged Title I and 21st Century Community Learning Center funds. Principal accountant Bill Early stated to the board that while there were still findings, “the number of findings has decreased from the previous year so we have made progress.” Early also said that his audit of department financial reporting revealed that the federal grant schedule had been incorrectly prepared. This meant that they were tracked by a group of grants and not individually. Additionally, vendor payments were not correctly recorded in the correct fiscal years. Rosemary Aultman, Chair of the State Board of Education thanked Gavin for helping to get us out of this mess after the CliftonLarsenAllen Report.