MINUTES OF THE
LEGISLATIVE AUDIT SUBCOMMITTEE
Monday, September 18, 2023 • 4:00 p.m. • Utah Tech University


Members Present:
President J. Stuart Adams, Co-chair
Speaker Brad R. Wilson, Co-chair
Sen. Evan J. Vickers
Rep. Angela Romero
Rep. Mike Schultz

Members Absent:
Sen. Luz Escamilla

Staff Present:
Brian J. Dean, Deputy Auditor General
Darin R. Underwood, Deputy Auditor General
Kade R. Minchey, Auditor General
Debbie Clawson, Executive Assistant

Note: A copy of related materials and an audio recording of the meeting can be found at www.le.utah.gov.
1.Other Items/Adjourn
Speaker Wilson started the meeting.
2.Committee Business
MOTION:President Adams moved to approve the minutes of the June 13, 2023 meeting.The motion passed with a vote of 4-0-2.
Yeas - 4Nays- 0Abs- 2
Sen. J. Adams
Rep. A. Romero
Sen. E. Vickers
Rep. B. Wilson
Sen. L. Escamilla
Rep. M. Schultz
3.Audit Report Presentations
Mr. Darin Underwood, Deputy Auditor General, introduced High-Risk List: Identifying and Mitigating Critical Vulnerabilities in Utah -- 2023 (#2023-10).
High-Risk List: Identifying and Mitigating Critical Vulnerabilities in Utah -- 2023 (Report #2023-10)
Mr. Kade Minchey, Auditor General, introduced the high-risk as a way for the office to play a preventative role and identify critical vulnerabilities in Utah.
Mr. Underwood and Mr. Andrew Poulter, Performance Auditor, presented the twelve high-risk areas and the methodology and impact framework used to evaluate their high-risk status.
Speaker Wilson thanked the auditors for their work in identifying and defining these high-risk areas in a format that allows us to asses vulnerability and understand where we are at.
President Adams talked about some of the great things we do in Utah, and how this audit helps us to refocus on some of the problems and challenges we are seeing in the State, specifically water and housing affordability.
Mr. Underwood answered a question from President Adams regarding how water use is calculated in our State.
Mr. Underwood described where to find the high-risk list on our website.
Dr. Sydnee Dickson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Utah State Board of Education, responded to a question from Speaker Wilson regarding the Educational Pathways (Chapter 3 of the High-Risk List report) and whether she feels the metrics that we need to think about were identified in the audit, and how she feels we are doing in those areas.
Dr. Dickson answered a follow-up question from Speaker Wilson about comparing a snapshot of where we are at today to a snapshot of where we are two years from now, and how we will know if we are making progress and moving in the right direction.
Dr. Dickson responded to a question from President Adams about whether a parent or student might know what the projected or expected learning gains there are for the grade that they are in.
President Adams thanked Dr. Dickson and her team for their great work.
Mr. Jonathan Ball, Legislative Fiscal Analyst, responded to a question from Speaker Wilson regarding the slide on page 79 of the report regarding revenue distribution (Chapter 10 of the High-Risk List report, "State Revenue Diversification") and whether he concurred with the auditor's assessment.
Director Ball responded to a follow-up question from Speaker Wilson asking whether there were any surprises that showed up in the audit, or if there was anything that did not show up.
President Adams agreed with Director Ball about how things could be changing with drone deliveries and air taxies and how that may make the infrastructure needs that we have more acute.
Representative Romero expressed appreciation for studies like this that help her as a policy maker outside of the Legislature, and helps to identify some of the vulnerable parts within our system.
MOTION:President Adams moved to refer High-Risk List: Identifying and Mitigating Critical Vulnerabilities in Utah -- 2023 to the Legislative Management Committee as the Lead Committee and the Executive Appropriations Committee as the Review Committee. The motion passed with a vote of 5-0-1.
Yeas - 5Nays- 0Abs- 1
Sen. J. Adams
Rep. A. Romero
Rep. M. Schultz
Sen. E. Vickers
Rep. B. Wilson
Sen. L. Escamilla
4.Audit Report Presentations
Ms. Leah Blevins, Audit Manager, introduced A Systemic Performance Audit of the Park City School District (Report #2023-11)
A Systemic Performance Audit of the Park City School District (Report #2023-11)
Chris McClelland, Senior Audit Supervisor, and Ms. Leah Blevins presented the findings of the audit.
President Adams commented on his excitement from data in Chapter 5 that showed Park City School District is using data analytics to forecast learning gains vs projected learning gains, and then using it for intervention.
Mr. McClelland responded to the comments from President Adams and agreed that it is exciting to see how this type of data can be used in the state to help make important decisions.
Mr. McClelland responded to a question from Representative Romero that the biggest learning gap seen is among at-risk students, and if the Park City School District was able to identify why this gap was there.
Representative Romero made additional comments about the gap that is there,and stressed the importance of having supportive services for those underserved and under-represented communities in schools.
Ms. Lindsay Jaynes, Performance Auditor, responded to questions from Representative Schultz regarding property taxes collected in the Park City School District and their revenue spent per student, as well as and whether there was any other school district in the state that comes close to the revenue spent per student in that district.
Ms. Jaynes, responded to a follow-up question from Representative Schultz asking where additional money is being spent, as they are at the lower end of money being spent on a per student basis.
Mr. McClelland responded to a question from Representative Schultz about whether the same amount of money is being spent on at-risk children, and whether there were any recommendations made that could be done to help these children.
Dr. Jill Gildea, Superintendent Park City School District, responded to the findings of the audit virtually.
Randy Upton, Business Administrator, Park City School District, responded to the findings of the audit virtually.Andrew Caplan, President, Park City Board of Education, was also present virtually.
Dr. Gildea responded to a question from Representative Schultz about Figure 3.4 on page 37 that shows that at-risk students are performing lower than the rest of the state, and he wonders what is being done to bring that performance up.
Dr. Gildea responded to another question from Representative Schultz about what can be done differently to bring those numbers up, as those students are still below the rest of the state.
Representative Schultz commented that these answers are concerning to him as he doesn't think the district is really understanding the problem. The school district has more money and more resources available to them than any other district in the state. He encouraged them to focus on these at-risk children and get their scores up, and offered to work with the district offline to help them understand his focus.
Dr. Gildea commented she would be happy to do a site visit and demonstrate all of the things happening in support of their learners.
Dr. Gildea responded to a question from Presidents Adams about student learning gains and projected growth, and whether they plan on using this to evaluate how effective these programs are for the low-performing students.
President Adams made reference to page 37, Figure 3.4 which showed that North Summit had resolved the problem with their at-risk students. President Adams asked Dr. Gildea if they could replicate what is being done at North Summit to resolve some of the issues that Representative Schultz talked about.
Dr. Gildea responded to a question from President Adams about whether the district has ever tried to tie teacher compensation to student learning gains.
President Adams believes those gifted teachers are best in the classroom and his goal would be to find a way to keep them there.
Dr. Gildea responded to a question from Representative Romero about whether she thought COVID might have had an impact on these English as a second language (ESL) learners that may have had more difficulties in their homes during that time.
President Adams commented that although you can sense we are concerned about the critical population that is not performing well, he complimented the district on perfecting using projected student learning gains vs actual student learning gains. He is encouraged that it could also be used to evaluate teacher performance.
MOTION:President Adams moved to refer A Systemic Performance Audit of the Park City School District to the Education Interim Committee as the Lead Committee and the Public Education Appropriations Committee as the Review Committee.The motion passed with a vote of 5-0-1.
Yeas - 5Nays- 0Abs- 1
Sen. J. Adams
Rep. A. Romero
Rep. M. Schultz
Sen. E. Vickers
Rep. B. Wilson
Sen. L. Escamilla
5.Audits Previously Released with Subcommittee Approval - August 2023
Mr. Kade Minchey introduced two previously released audits: Government Excellence: Follow-Up Low-Cost IT Procurement Efficiency Evaluation Report #2023-08, and A Limited Review of B and C Road Funds (Report #2023-09).
6.Prioritization of Audits
MOTION:President Adams moved to prioritize the following audits and give flexibility to the Auditor General to begin the audits as staff expertise and resources become available:-A performance audit of state royalty agreements for mineral production on the Great Salt Lake; -Efficiency and effectiveness review of the State of Utah Institutional Trust Lands Administration including a review of leases, royalties, severance taxes on oil, gas, and mining operations;-Systemic audit of the Department of Workforce Services; and-A Review of the Ogden Hinckley Airport's operations and fiscal management.The motion passed with a vote of 5-0-1.
Yeas - 5Nays- 0Abs- 1
Sen. J. Adams
Rep. A. Romero
Rep. M. Schultz
Sen. E. Vickers
Rep. B. Wilson
Sen. L. Escamilla
7.Other Items/Adjourn
MOTION:President Adams made a motion to adjourn.The motion passed with a vote of 5-0-1.
Yeas - 5Nays- 0Abs- 1
Sen. J. Adams
Rep. A. Romero
Rep. M. Schultz
Sen. E. Vickers
Rep. B. Wilson
Sen. L. Escamilla