ENCINITAS — The San Dieguito Union High School District announced Wednesday that it is launching an independent audit and program review for all school-based foundations to ensure legally sound and transparent practices.
The district board of trustees agreed upon the audit in a closed-session meeting Wednesday evening. The statement said the board plans to initiate the audit in October and hopefully complete it by the end of the first semester in December.
San Dieguito’s announcement comes a few weeks after two Canyon Crest Academy seniors published a scathing online report alleging financial mismanagement within the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation, the nonprofit run largely by parent volunteers that supports the high school’s programming.
The students’ report drew massive attention and demands for transparency from the CCA Foundation, whose leaders heavily criticized the report and called it an “attack.” The foundation defended its financial practices and also said it would be open to a new audit to address community concerns.
SDUHSD did not specifically mention CCAF in their statement but referenced “recent questions” that have been raised regarding foundation operations. The district said the audit will focus on all foundations associated with district schools “to ensure that all practices are legally sound, transparent, and consistent with District policy, and executed with integrity.”
“We recognize that our education foundations provide tremendous financial support to our students’ education, enhance and expand learning opportunities, and help our schools achieve the exceptional educational opportunities for which our District is highly regarded. Our dedicated staff and ambitious students, as well as the entire school community, have come to rely on their generous support in maintaining robust extra-curricular and core academic supports,” the district statement read.
“Accordingly, for the benefit of those who dedicate their valuable time and service to the foundations and to support the continued success of our foundations, recent questions regarding its operations must be answered,” the statement continued.
Within their “Ravens for Transparency” report, students Kevin Wang and Litong Tian alleged several issues, including that the CCA foundation’s largest expense is left largely unexplained within financial documents.
They explained that in 2023, CCAF itemized around $674,000 worth of expenditures as “Other Program Expenses” without explaining what this included, with over $3.5 million allocated to this category in the past decade.
CCAF later stated that this category covers “rolled up” costs for facility improvements such as new furniture, flooring and sound systems, as well as spending on camps, clinics, and coach stipends.
The students’ report also raised concerns about the foundation’s longtime practice of taking 25% of each donation made to a specific club or program and allocating it to a larger fund for the program’s department.
The report said this is much higher than how donations are split up by other school foundations, with “fees” on each donation closer to 5% to 10%. The San Dieguito Academy Foundation allocates 5% of each donation toward foundation management and administration and a 10% per-athlete fee specifically for athletics.
“Ravens for Transparency” also questioned why CCAF assesses an additional end-of-year fee on each program’s total donations. CCAF Board President Sarah Sincek said this assessment covers administrative costs for supporting clubs and is charged differently based on each club’s total donations, usually ranging from 9% to 11%.
The report also noted that CCAF did not disclose the salary of former director Joanne Couvrette, who departed the foundation in May to the IRS from 2015 to 2020, despite it currently being required by federal law.
As of May, Couvrette’s salary was over $161,000 — the highest of any foundation executive director in the district. CCAF said they had been advised that salary reporting was not required for officers making under $150,000, and they began reporting Couvrette’s salary in 2021 once it exceeded this amount.
Sincek said CCAF will be fully cooperative with the district audit and that the foundation has also formed its own audit and financial oversight committee that will work with financial professionals to review raised concerns.
“CCAF welcomes the news of an independent district audit and review of all school foundations, as we are confident in the integrity of our program,” Sincek said.
Along with CCAF, the review will examine foundations at San Dieguito Academy, Torrey Pines High School and La Costa Canyon High School. Leaders of these foundations also said they are open to this process.
“Our mission is to be collaborative and transparent with the families of LCC and the broader SDUHSD community,” said LCC Foundation Board President RJ Smith. “We see an audit as an appropriate step to ensure the LCC Foundation is truly meeting the needs of our stakeholders while using best practices, following guidelines, and adhering to all policies and procedures.”
“The SDA Foundation is committed to full transparency to our parents, students, staff and community,” said SDA Foundation Executive Director Sarah Givens. “We plan to fully cooperate with the audit and provide the District with any information about our programs, operations and finances that they need to complete the audit.”
