<\/p>\n
Adrian Bustillos, center, listens as he is voted in as the new San Antonio Independent School District superintendent on Monday, July 20. The district expects an audit of 2020 bond spending to be complete by the end of the month.<\/p>\n
Alma E. Hernandez\/For the San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
A Houston-based accounting firm<\/a> reviewing how the San Antonio Independent School District managed its $1.3 billion 2020 bond<\/a>\u00a0is expected to complete its report by the end of the month.<\/p>\n Weaver and\u00a0Tidwell LLP <\/a>is tracing where bond funds approved in 2020 went, and how the district has managed them. The district hired the firm last month, and it began its audit on Sept. 30. District spokesperson Laura Short did not provide the cost of the firm\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The audit will examine where the district moved bond funds, how much money remains from the 2020 package, whether contractor records and payment data show irregularities and whether the documents point to fraud, according to a presentation provided to the SAISD audit committee Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s explicitly fraud, then we owe reports to TEA (Texas Education Agency) and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation),\u201d SAISD Chief of Audit and Performance Abby Garland said. \u201cTo be very clear, that is not the case now. We don\u2019t have that. But if that happens, then that would be the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n Voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to approve a $600 million SAISD bond package<\/a> to improve schools, the first district bond proposal since the 2020 package. The 2020\u00a0bond\u00a0is under scrutiny, <\/a>with $420 million\u00a0unspent six years later and several projects stalled.\u00a0Two senior district leaders are on leave <\/a>in connection with the bond spending. The district has declined to comment on the personnel decisions.<\/p>\n The Houston-based firm is expected to complete its report in late October and present it to trustees at the board\u2019s Nov. 10 audit committee meeting, a week after Election Day. Trustees Ed Garza, Jacob Ramos and Mike Villarreal serve on the committee.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What will the audit examine?<\/p>\n Weaver and Tidwell\u2019s forensic audit\u00a0is the most detailed review of the 2020 bond possible for SAISD, Garland said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very comprehensive. So a typical audit is going to sample, right? \u2026 They are running comprehensive reports. They\u2019re pulling large data sets,\u201d Garland said. \u201cIt\u2019s six years of data.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n