The Doctor Franklin Perkins School

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor performance audit of the Doctor Franklin Perkins School, a nonprofit special-education school in Lancaster, covering July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.

“The Doctor Franklin Perkins School (DFPS), located in Lancaster, Massachusetts, was incorporated as a Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation in 1934.”

The audit looked at whether the school’s board was set up properly and carried out oversight duties required by state rules and contract terms.

“The purpose of this audit was to assess whether DFPS’s board of trustees was constituted, and performed various oversight functions, in a manner consistent with applicable regulations, contractual terms and conditions, and other guidance.”

The school received state contract money, so the public has an interest in whether its leadership followed oversight and compensation rules.

“DFPS’s total revenue for fiscal year 2014 was $18,425,621, of which $3,603,565 was from state contracts, primarily with the Department of Developmental Services.”

For an ordinary taxpayer, the key point is that auditors found the reviewed state-funded governance and compensation practices were within the rules.

“Further, the level of other compensation provided to the executive director and charged to state contracts was within the limits prescribed by state regulations and was properly reported by the organization.”

The audit did not find significant deficiencies in the areas it reviewed.

“For the areas reviewed that were related to our audit objectives, we did not identify any significant deficiencies warranting attention by those responsible for governance and state oversight agencies.”

The report does not call for corrective action, because the audit found no significant issues needing attention in the reviewed areas.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

This report is significant because it is part of the Auditor’s broader effort to watch how private human-service providers use and oversee state contract funds.

“This audit was conducted as part of OSA’s ongoing efforts to audit human-service contract activity by state agencies and to promote accountability, transparency, and cost effectiveness in state contracting.”

The audit focused on board governance basics: whether insiders made up too much of the board, whether the board reviewed and voted on the top executive’s pay, and whether benefits or bonuses followed state rules.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding each objective.”