Brownsville ISD board passes on forensic audit, for now

Brownsville ISD trustees decided to wait and see what multiple ongoing investigations by internal auditor Marco Porras reveal before proceeding further on any possible forensic audit.

The decision came on a 4-3 vote Tuesday in which newly re-elected board member Minerva Pena joined trustees Carlos Elizondo and Frank Ortiz in voting for the proposal.

A forensic audit is a detailed review of financial records to uncover potential fraud or other irregularities. The goal is to gather evidence that can be used in legal proceedings or to prevent future fraud.

“I decided to place this on the agenda because I personally wanted to get more information in regards to a lot of the audits,” trustee Erasmo Castro said at the meeting.

BISD last conducted a forensic audit of the three school years between 2008 and 2011. The Dallas forensic audit firm of Defenbaugh & Associates completed the audit on Jan. 12, 2012, according to an executive summary released to The Brownsville Herald at the time.

Elizondo proposed a forensic audit in December 2022, but the board tabled the proposal at that time.

On Tuesday, Castro brought up the idea again, but voted with former president Jessica G. Gonzalez and trustees Daniella Lopez Valdez and Denise Garza against a motion to consider appointing an outside auditor.

Castro said one of his main concerns was money missing from student fundraisers at several schools.

“One of the goals of this board should be to go out there and find ways to save as much money as we can in all aspects, and so I encouraged all of the members on the (audit) committee to please look into could we actually save money for the students and for the teachers and for staff,” he said.

Pena said she supported the motion because “there’s too many things that have gone on and I just want to make sure. Let’s check it out. … Is there any value to it? Is it anything that’s actually wrong or not. Let’s clear it. I just want to make sure we do it right and that people not be cornered not to say stuff,” Pena said.

Garza said her concern was duplication of services.

“I hate to right now approve something when it’s still considered premature because our internal auditor is still working on some audits,” she said.

Gonzalez then read a portion of the minutes from the board’s Oct. 9 meeting concerning the first phase of audits. At that meeting, the board granted authorization, in priority order, for audits of: Sams Memorial Stadium, the Resaca Technology Center, LED lighting projects throughout the district, and intercom systems around the district.

The motion carried unanimously to approve the first phase of audits.

Elizondo said then that the board could come back if anything came up, according to the minutes.

Gonzalez added that in December when Porras presented to the board “there was no action. Nobody had any concerns.”

Garza then noted that the Sept 3 minutes state that “once he was done with phase one, if there was anything alarming, then we would look out for an external auditor.”

“Correct,” Gonzalez said.

Responding to a question from Gonzalez, Porras said the 2012 audit cost $252,000.

At the lectern, Porras answered questions from Elizondo, including whether he was aware of a $1 million loss to the district.

Porras said the investigation was handled by the FBI “but internally I did some investigation on it, yes sir.” When Elizondo asked if they ever found out who did it, Porras said no, that it was a phishing scheme.

“As soon as it left our district or bank, it hit different banks.”

The loss was $800,000 and was covered by bank insurance, he said.

Elizondo then asked about missing monies from schools. Porras said that he investigated and was able to identify who took the funds.

“And they’re still working for the school district,” Elizondo asked.

“Uh no, no sir,” Porras said.

Board attorney Nick Maddox then cautioned Elizondo not to mention names or position in which the individual is easily identifiable.

“From the top of my head, sir, there was quite a few audits that we’ve conducted, and some of these employees are no longer with the district,” Porras said.

“But some of them are,” Elizondo asked.

“Not that I can remember from the top of my head, no sir,” Porras said.

Porras said he could not be sure.

Elizondo said that was the reason he supported Castro’s motion concerning the audit.

“Mr Porras has a limit and that’s why it is so important we find out where this money is, because all of us here are concerned when we’re missing money and there’s not enough to pay people. We gotta get that money back, and this is the reason I supported your agenda and the only reason,” Elizondo stated.

The board then voted 4-3 against Castro’s motion to appoint an independent external auditor for a forensic audit.

Earlier, the board defeated a motion by Elizondo to terminate the Austin law firm of O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo as board counsel by an identical vote.

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