(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand’s staff has completed the annual review of how major state funds were managed last year — and the report did NOT flag any issues in how the state-funded Education Savings Account program for private school expenses was handled. However, Sand says Governor Reynolds’ staff did not provide information about the program to his office until late November — six months after the initial request.

“Had they given us the information when we asked for it, we may have expanded the audit,” Sand says, “because we may have noticed something and performed additional procedures and been able to provide taxpayers with a better understanding of what’s going on in the program.” Last year, Sand and the governor’s staff disagreed on whether Iowa law allowed the auditor’s office to review how Education Savings Accounts were managed.

The governor’s budget director says it wasn’t until in October that staff from Sand’s office explained state spending on Education Savings Accounts had risen to a level that required auditors to review the program and the data was turned over the following month.

Statement from Governor Kim Reynolds in response to Sand’s annual review: