Audit suggests Tacoma Schools repay federal lunch funds
May 22, 2012, 7:57 AM | Updated: 9:25 am
An audit suggests that Tacoma School District should consider repaying more than $330,000 it collected in federal school lunch subsidy money. (AP photo)
(AP photo)
An audit suggests that Tacoma Schools made mistakes in
managing its student meal money and might owe the federal
program a refund of more than $300,000.
For the 2011-2012 school year, state auditors
randomly checked 32 applications for free or discounted
school meals and found two mistakes. One student was
incorrectly getting free meals when he should have
received
discounted meals. The second student was not eligible at
all.
The Tacoma School District received more than $9
million for its lunch and breakfast programs last school
year. The auditor projects that a similar rate of errors
means the district received $334,000 by mistake.
The district’s chief financial officer, Ron Hack,
questions the way the auditor extrapolated the cost of the
errors. He tells The News
Tribune the
Tacoma schools would review every single application
before returning federal meal money.
