**PRESS RELEASE**
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2019
Audit Finds Opportunities to Improve School Bus Safety
Contact information: Brianna Ludwig, North Dakota State Auditor’s Office, 701-328-2453, bsludwig@nd.gov
State Auditor Joshua Gallion today released an audit of the North Dakota Highway Patrol which shows from July 2016 through June 2018, the agency was not following internal policies for school bus inspections, was inaccurately tracking the inspections and was not working off a complete list of vehicles to be inspected.
"The purpose of these inspections is to ensure the safety features are working properly on buses that transport thousands of North Dakota children,” Auditor Gallion said. “The fact that the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction falsely advertises that inspections are done on 100 percent of school buses is concerning."
The audit also looked at federal grant dollars spent by the agency and found errors in how the dollars were expensed. If the proper procedures were used, the State would have an additional $41,895 in the general fund.
This audit is a result of the State Auditor’s Office statutory responsibility to audit or review each state agency once every two years. The complete audit report can be found on our website, http://bit.ly/NDHwyPatrol.
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