The Washington State Auditor’s Office dinged the Oak Harbor School District for not having adequate “internal controls” for tracking its employees in Special Education and Title I programs.

The school district receives federal grant money for these programs, and most of that money goes toward paying employee salary and benefits. The school district is supposed to keep track of the “time and effort” of these employees.

A routine audit found that the district didn’t ensure all personnel changes were communicated to the employee responsible for collecting “time and effort” documentation.

The finding amounts to a paperwork error, and the auditor did not find money was mishandled, said Kelly Collins, who oversees the teams that perform audits.

The finding is a “significant deficiency” because if the problem isn’t corrected, the district risks losing funding in the future.

“This could jeopardize teacher funding if they don’t get a handle on it now,” Collins said.

The state auditors use two terms to describe findings — significant or material. “Significant” is the less serious of the two.

In the 2014 fiscal year, the district spent $1,191,870 in federal money on its Special Education program and $872,093 for Title I.

In a statement to the auditor, the district writes that it recognizes “certain paperwork was not filed.”

In response, the district has implemented changes to better obtain and track documentation for these employees.