While the Guam Department of Education marked a 10th straight year of receiving unmodified or clean opinions from independent auditors, some significant deficiencies were found in its fiscal 2022 internal control over compliance on major federal programs.
This comes amidst getting record-breaking federal funds because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 2020 to September 2022, GDOE was in receipt of $439 million in COVID-19 relief funding, according to a report from independent auditors Ernst & Young, and that report was released by the Office of Public Accountability.
Local appropriations for GDOE went down by $6.2 million, or from $218.5 million in fiscal 2021 to $212.2 million in fiscal 2022.
GDOE spending increased by $36.4 million, from $346.7 million in fiscal 2021 to $383.1 million in fiscal 2022.
Increases were largely due to a $16.4 million increase in salaries and benefits, $10.7 million in increase in supplies, $3.2 million increase in benefits, and $4.7 million increase in power.
The independent auditors identified one material weakness and six significant…
