Audit: Utah state school board falling short of compliance oversight duties on building inspection projects

Yahoo

21-05-2025

The Utah State Board of Education is not directly responsible for ensuring building code compliance at the state's K-12 public schools — that's the job of the local districts.
But the board is tasked with verifying compliance with inspection requirements and enforcing preconstruction requirements — which they are not consistently doing.
That was the conclusion of an audit performed by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General. The findings were shared Tuesday with the Legislative Audit Subcommittee.
'The impact of insufficient inspections and untrained building officials can materialize as a risk to school property and the life and safety of school building occupants,' the audit report stated.
Independent, certified building inspectors utilized by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General reported finding compliance problems with recent construction problems, 'which should generally not occur if local education agencies (LEAs) comply with building code requirements,' according to the report.
The audit noted that local agencies are required to complete USBE's preconstruction checklist and enforcement mechanisms before construction begins. But USBE has reportedly never used them.
The general lack of board enforcement of preconstruction requirements appears to have contributed to persistent noncompliance among the state's LEAs, the audit report noted.
'However, some LEAs have reported that USBE is not timely in processing their submissions, and both contractors and LEAs have reported that USBE has not generally enforced compliance.
'USBE's lack of timely processing of required permit submittals likely impacts its ability to enforce deadlines when the state board itself is not keeping up. Because of this situation, LEAs often proceed with construction before complying with rules.'
The state school board's responsibility to verify that school building inspections occur 'stems from the importance of assuring the life and safety of school building occupants,' the report added.
'Qualified inspections verify compliance with the state-adopted building codes, which exist to establish minimum standards for the protection of property and the safety of building occupants.'
The audit went on to explain that the board is the authorizer of permanent occupancy of a school building. Utah Code requires that the state superintendent shall either issue a certificate of occupancy or deliver a letter to the local districts indicating deficiencies in building code compliance or inspection, which must be addressed.
'However, the current process reportedly does not yield any information which would allow the state board to identify; it is essentially a rubber stamp.'
The state board's school construction specialist reported to the Office of the Legislative Auditor General that he lacks the tools to adequately enforce compliance.
'The current process involves receiving inspection summary documents via email and manually placing them into project folders, and a tracking database is inconsistently updated,' the audit reported.
'USBE's document management system is ill equipped to efficiently manage the volume of monthly inspection reports and does not facilitate enforcement of noncompliance.'
The independent building inspectors utilized by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General recommended the creation of an online document management system to maintain all the state-required documentation — a recommendation echoed by local and state officials.
Auditors concluded that 'years of neglect' suggests that oversight of local district school construction and inspection is not a priority for the board:
'USBE's primary focus is not construction; while the state board employs one person with construction expertise to oversee this process, one position is reportedly insufficient to fulfill state requirements.'
The construction projects reviewed by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General generally met the intent of providing safe, functional school buildings.
'However, our independent, certified building inspectors found compliance problems with recent construction projects, which should generally not occur if LEAs comply with building code requirements,' the audit report noted.
'Inexperienced and unqualified building officials likely contributed to noncompliance. However, USBE's lack of verification and enforcement of inspection requirements may have contributed to the noncompliance found.'
The building inspectors contracted by the Office of the Legislative Auditor General identified problems with code compliance at a selection of local school buildings.
The most significant discoveries, according to building inspectors, are firewall compliance flaws.
'Multiple schools did not build required firewalls in compliance with code,' according to the report. 'Firewalls are highly regulated because if a firewall fails, fires can spread more rapidly, increasing risk to property and building occupants.'
In their Tuesday report presentation, auditors noted there are other methods generally in place to protect against fire.
The audit also listed several state-level oversight deficiencies and needs identified by the independent inspectors which likely contributed to the LEA noncompliance outlined in the building code review, including:
USBE has not outlined clear expectations for what should be included in required plan reviews, what inspections are required, how often inspections should occur, and how they should be reported for verification.
There is insufficient training for those responsible for ensuring compliance with building codes.
USBE needs a better document management system, which facilitates verification of compliance.
USBE's reporting and verification process needs improvements.
Hiring contractors to build Utah's public schools, according to the Office of the Legislative Auditor General, must be done through a competitive bid.
The office found that one unidentified school district's procurement practice was 'uncommon' when compared with a sample of 13 other districts in the state.
'Although we did not establish undue bias nor illegal procurement methods, the district's practices exhibit the appearance of impropriety,' the report noted. 'The school district should conduct procurement of construction services in a competitive manner, avoiding the appearance of impropriety.'
This district in question had contracted exclusively with a single general contractor on 18 school construction projects since 2014, according to the report.
For the 18 projects, only two bid solicitations were reportedly issued.
The 2013 solicitation resulted in a $135.5 million contract, under which 14 construction projects were completed over a period of nine years. The 2023 solicitation was reportedly issued for four construction projects with a budgeted cost of about $126 million, which have yet to be completed.
'The general contractor that the district has almost exclusively used since at least 2014 appears to often offer services to the district for a much lower price than other bidders. However, the school district only retains recent bid documentation, making it difficult to entirely validate this claim,' the audit noted.
The Office of the Legislative Auditor General made several recommendations to improve compliance oversight on Utah's K-12 public school construction projects, including:
The USBE should develop sufficient internal controls to functionally verify and enforce compliance with its pre-construction and inspection verification requirements.
The USBE should develop or procure an online document management system, or portal, to maintain all the state required construction and inspection documentation to enable verification of compliance with statute and Administrative Rule.
The USBE should provide training for local education agencies so that they understand their responsibilities and are aware of the state board's code compliance requirements.
The USBE should implement a standardized cost reporting system, require construction managers at local education agencies to report all associated construction project costs according to standard criteria, and make it available to relevant state agency and local education agency officials.
The Utah State Board of Education should communicate expectations for required plan reviews, types of inspections, the frequency of inspections, and reporting requirements for functional verification.
The Legislature should consider prioritizing an audit of local education agency practices for procurement of construction and related services.
In response to Tuesday's report, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson wrote in a letter that the audit report will be referred to board leadership 'for consideration of involvement of the full board and next steps that will be taken to address the risks identified in the audit.'
The letter added board leadership discussion of the report will happen no later than Aug. 31.
During Tuesday's Legislative Audit Subcommittee meeting, Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, called the prevalence of local district building officials working in Utah schools without proper certification 'very problematic.'
She asked the audit team if there were consequences for not following adequate building inspection rules. The auditors were not aware of any code-prescribed consequences.
House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, acknowledged the state school board having statutory-required compliance oversight over the construction of new schools — so criticism is valid if that's not happening.
'But I do question,' he said, 'whether or not USBE should have oversight.'
Public school buildings are typically being constructed with local money, not state funds. Plus, Schultz added, members of the state school board are not construction experts. It's the board's job to educate kids. There's no shortage of independent building inspectors for hire.
'I do think that is the way to make sure that the building codes are followed. I think that's what needs to happen and should be happening,' he said.
USBE Deputy Superintendent of Operations Scott Jones told the subcommittee Tuesday that he appreciates the collaboration with the auditors, adding that his office had requested the audit years ago.
'It's taken some time, and I think the time is well worth it, because we are at a decisive point in the future of oversight of school construction,' said Jones.
Jones noted the logistical and staffing challenges that the USBE faces while working with the many LEAs during the oversight compliance process of each building.
He added his office is agreeable to collaborating with lawmakers to optimize public education in Utah.