Auditors Tell Adult School to Clean Up Its Bookkeeping : Administration: Sloppy and incomplete records could jeopardize future funding. However, the center’s former director is pleased that the report found no intentional wrongdoing.

Sloppy and incomplete record-keeping could jeopardize future funding of programs at the Paramount Adult Education Center, state auditors have reported. However, auditors found no intentional wrongdoing or other problems that would result in immediate penalties or repayment of state funds.

The audit report was released two months after the Paramount Unified School District began dismissal proceedings against former adult school Director Ed Quesada and former Assistant Principal Luther Martinez. Citing personnel rules, the district has not released the specific charges against the administrators.

Both Martinez and Quesada deny any wrongdoing. Quesada said his dismissal is retaliation for his efforts to make the adult school a state charter school, which would give it administrative, financial and philosophical independence from the school district. Last month, the school board rejected a charter petition signed by Quesada and a group of adult-school teachers.

The adult school offers high school diploma programs and courses in English as a second language, as well as classes for pregnant minors and job training for welfare recipients.

Problems uncovered by the audit must be corrected if the school is to keep its current funding, officials said. They include inadequate records of: student attendance, payments to employees, and students’ individual academic programs.

The adult school may have double-billed the state and other funding sources for some students and courses. Auditors said they were unable to calculate a specific cost of the miscalculations because of poor record-keeping. The adult school receives money from the state based on its reporting of daily attendance.

“The attendance claimed on the state attendance reports could not be traced to detailed records, and the enrollment status of . . . students could not be verified,” the auditors wrote.

The state began its audit in July at the request of the Los Angeles County Office of Education. The county education office had received a tip about alleged administrative problems at the adult school from a Paramount Unified School District employee. Auditors examined records for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1991.

District officials said the audit results confirmed their own conclusions about problems in the adult school.

“It does substantiate the findings our own auditing firm had,” Supt. Michele Lawrence said. The state “substantiated the fact that we have sloppy record-keeping.”

“We’ve got to do the right thing and correct the problem of poor management.”

The school system’s own annual audit, by the La Verne accounting firm of Vicenti, Lloyd and Stuzman, found that last year the adult school exceeded its budget, requiring the school district’s general fund to make up the difference. The alleged overspending was $458,322 on a program for pregnant minors and $106,193 for an independent study program. The district audit warned that such costs could threaten the solvency of the school district.

State auditors did not address these costs because they did not review the district’s general fund, Lawrence said.

The district will require the adult school to pay back the general fund in three years, Assistant Supt. Gene Hartline said.

Quesada blamed the adult school’s funding deficit on top district administrators. He said they raided the adult school budget to solve the district’s own budget shortfall, shifting the red ink to his department. The district has denied that charge.