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Secretary of State Dennis Richardson today announced the list of agencies that his office will audit in the coming year—and the first one on the alphabetical list is pretty unusual:
It's Portland Public Schools.
Typically, the state auditor, who reports to the secretary of state, focuses on performance audits of state agencies or particular aspects of those agencies' work. A typical inquiry: How does the Oregon Department of Revenue do at collecting monies owed the state? (Answer, repeated audits have found: not well.)
It's far less common for a local agency such as PPS to be the state auditor's focus. But it does make some sense. K-12 education is the single largest expenditure of the state's general fund budget, and PPS is the state's largest school district.
Richardson said in a statement announcing the audit schedule that he wants to use audits to increase government transparency, accountability, and integrity.
"I am committed to using the resources of the Audits Division to better inform citizens and stakeholders of how their state government is performing and to account for public monies," Richardson said.
It's also worth noting that a key ally of Richardson's, Portland lawyer Kim Sordyl, is one of the district's most persistent critics.
Sordyl supported Richardson in his upset 2016 victory over Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, a Democrat. Richardson then named Sordyl to the Oregon State Board of Education in January of this year.
Sordyl says she's been anxious for an outside audit of PPS and mentioned that interest to Richardson earlier. But she says she had no input in today's announcement.
"I did not participate in this recent decision," Sordyl said in an email.
A PPS spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.