Unrelated audits critical of tech schools, DOTD computer upgrades

Published Jun 25, 2012 at 3:00 pm (Updated Jun 25, 2012)

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor says two-thirds of community and technical colleges participating in a program that allows the schools to raise their student costs didn't provide reliable data to get the tuition-boosting authority. That data is used to determine if the schools are meeting performance improvements required for them to increase tuition. The benchmarks are outlined in a 2010 law. An audit released today says two public colleges outside the community and technical college system—Southern University at Shreveport and the University of Louisiana at Monroe—also didn't provide reliable data. But most four-year universities were deemed to have provided accurate information. Joe May, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, says the schools have beefed up their data and auditing processes since the state audit was conducted. Meanwhile, a separate audit released today says a multimillion-dollar computer upgrade at the state transportation department has been plagued with problems. The auditor says the Department of Transportation and Development's new computer system has had coding errors and other problems. More than $26 million in federal expenses weren't billed for reimbursement, and financial statement errors topped $42 million, the report says. DOTD Secretary Sherri LeBas disagrees with several of the findings, saying implementation of the computer system upgrade was a success and that it replaced a system that was at risk of failing. LeBas adds that improvements will continue to be made to the system for years. You can check out an online database of all legislative auditor reports here.