Legislative Services Office-Audits Division Contracted with Eide Bailly, LLC
House Bill 650, 2014 Legislative Session, provided additional funding for the Idaho
Education Network through the Department of Administration.
It also included legislative intent language requiring Legislative Audits to perform
Service Audits was the term used in the
legislative intent language to direct the
Audits Division to complete this work with the aide of a contractor.
Service Audit is not a technical auditing
report, so we prepared the RFP and resulting contract to require an Agreed Upon
Procedures Report where we could link the
Transmittal Letter that explains the process and summarizes the results of the report.
Independent Auditor’s Report from the
contracted firm describing what they did, and to
some extent what they didn’t do.
Description of Procedures and Findings that describes what was requested, what was
performed, and what was found.
Exhibits include the data used to support procedures completed and information reported.
The legislative intent language included in House Bill 650 required two main issues be addressed through this report:
Determine ownership of all equipment purchased or leased in association with the IEN Contract.
Confirm the type and level of usage of IEN
services by each school district receiving services under this contract.
The State of Idaho purchased approximately $3.35 million in physical assets to support the contract provision related to video
teleconferencing.
All of these assets are recorded in the
Statewide Fixed Asset System (FAS) with identification numbers and pictures.
Assets are in five broad categories:
High Definition Cameras
Flat Screen Televisions
Projectors
Document Cameras
The contractor visited 30 of the 217 high schools utilizing the IEN.
These schools were specifically selected to ensure a cross section of large, small, and geographical differentiated schools.
10 schools and 41 assets from North Idaho
10 schools and 39 assets from Southwest Idaho
10 schools and 53 assets from Central/Eastern Idaho
Of the 30 schools selected, 21 are in districts with two or less high schools.
Eide Bailly reviewed a total of 133 assets, or 12.7%, of the 1,048 assets identified by the Department of Administration as purchased for the IEN.
Total purchase cost of the 133 assets was $441,624, or approximately 13.2%, of the $3.35 million total IEN assets purchased.
Located and identified sampled IEN assets at each school visited as listed by the
Department of Administration including asset description or name, IEN asset, ID tag, or
photo record where possible.
Inquired with school representatives as to the frequency of use for IEN provided assets.
Description Number of Assets % of Sample
IEN Assets Identified 125 94%
IEN Asset Not Located 8 6%
Total 133 100%
Note: Further investigation into the assets not located and the
individual schools as to what procedures the school uses to account for inventory or planned efforts to find the asset was not pursued under this contract.
Assets not Identified During Site Visits
Asset Location Asset Type Asset Value
American Falls HS Document Camera $1,279
Highland HS (Poc) HD Camera $4,469
Kellogg HS Document Camera $1,279
Lapwai HS Document Camera $1,279
Rigby HS LCD Projector $1,083
Sandpoint HS Document Camera
Flatscreen TV
$1,941 $1,073
Wallace Jr/Sr HS Document Camera $1,279
Asset Type Total Number Tested Number of Assets Utilized Utilization Rate HD Cameras 31 18 58%
Flat Screen Televisions 16 9 56%
Projectors 28 12 43%
Document Cameras 29 12 41%
Video Teleconference Codecs 29 11 38%
Total 133 63 47%
Note: Utilization was determined by asking each school
representative which pieces of equipment were being utilized in any capacity by the school.
Asset Type Utilized Not Utilized Total Tested Assets Percent Utilized Document Camera $18,658.00 $23,729.00 $42,387.00 44.0% Flatscreen TV $9,514.05 $7,440.65 $16,954.70 56.0% HD Camera $23,243.66 $16,407.42 $39,651.08 58.6% LCD Projector $11,125.45 $15,831.56 $26,957.01 41.3% Video Conferencing Codec $132,146.57 $183,527.14 $315,673.71 41.9%
Total $194,687.73 $246,935.77 $441,623.50 44.1%
The results of testing related to utilization of the IEN assets show that schools are not
using 53% of the assets purchased, or
approximately 56% of the dollars spent on these assets, for the IEN.
As the previous slide indicated, the most under-utilized asset group was the video teleconferencing codecs (38% assets, 42% dollars), also one of the most expensive
Number of High Schools Participating in the IEN Number of High School Students
217 85,642
Data on Classes Offered Through Video Teleconferencing
Description Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Number of Districts Providing IEN Classes 50 47 40 32 Number of High Schools Providing IEN Classes 66 70 56 42 Number of Different Classes Offered Through the IEN 71 59 53 45 Total Number of Classes Offered Through the IEN 178 158 140 128 Total Number of Students Enrolled in IEN Classes 1850 1503 1431 1510
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 50 47 40 32 66 70 56 42 71 59 53 45 178 158 140 128 1850 1503 1431 1510
Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Number of Districts Providing IEN Classes 50 47 40 32 Number of High Schools Providing IEN Classes 66 70 56 42 Number of Different Classes Offered Through the
IEN 71 59 53 45
Total Number of Classes Offered Through the IEN 178 158 140 128 Total Number of Students Enrolled in IEN Classes 1850 1503 1431 1510
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 2009-2010 2010-2011* 2011-2012* 2012-2013 2013-2014 13,669 13,569 17,595 18,924 20,957 S tu d e n ts
Survey sent to 147 individuals:
48 responded in part, 32.7%
Survey questions focused on three main topics:
Broadband usage,
Utilization of the IEN through interactive classes or for other purposes,
Overall satisfaction with the services received through the IEN.
Note: We did not receive information on respondents such as size of the district, do they have multiple high schools, etc. This information would have an impact on the evaluation of responses to each question posed.
More than 50% of the respondents indicated that they purchased additional broadband
beyond what was provided through the IEN.
Respondents also provided average cost information for distributing the broadband from the main district hub to additional high schools.
Exhibit 5 to the report includes information about current broadband available,
Several questions focused on what types of services are used:
Use of interactive classes through the video
conferencing equipment.
Unique course offerings and educational
opportunities provided as a result of the IEN services.
Capacity for which video conferencing was used for
other activities.
How often the video conferencing equipment was
20 of 41 respondents, or 48.8%, indicated
that they did not offer any interactive classes utilizing the video conferencing service
during the 2013/2014 school year.
14 of the respondents, or 34.1%, offered 1-3 classes.
Remaining 7 respondents, or 17.1%, offered 4 or more classes.
40.9% of the respondents utilized the IEN for specific course offerings such as foreign
language, math, and science.
15.9% used the IEN for Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA).
15.9% provided access to college level courses for their students.
The survey asked what capacity the district utilized the video conferencing capabilities and how often.
The table below indicates what types of activities the video conferencing is being used for by respondents.
Answer Options Response Count Response Percent
Interactive Classes for Students 15 57.7%
Specialty Education Opportunities 17 65.4%
Extracurricular Activities 6 23.1%
District Meetings 8 30.8%
Answer Options Response Count Response Percent
Never 10 27.8%
Daily 10 27.8%
Once per Week 3 8.3%
Once per Month 1 2.8%
Intermittently throughout the Year 12 33.3%
Survey asked respondents how often they used the IEN
provided video conferencing equipment, in any capacity.
35 respondents answered this question,
which was structured on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being most satisfied.
91.4% of respondents selected a 3 or better on the satisfaction rating, with 51.4% giving a 5, most satisfied, rating.
Overall, schools participating value the IEN in a broad sense; connectivity and ability to utilize it for a variety of purposes.
Students enrolled in IEN classes utilizing the VTC are about 2% of the total number of students with access to the IEN.
Students enrolled in IDLA classes utilizing the IEN are approximately 23% of the total number of students with access to the IEN.
Usage of the IEN classes provided through the VTC has declined over the two years of data supplied but IDLA enrollment has increased over that time.
