Audit faults Seattle district’s management of school construction

From The Seattle Times: The Washington state Auditor's Office has concluded that the Seattle district needs to improve how it oversees school-construction projects. An found a number of instances from 2005-2008 when district staff members didn't follow procedures: District employees sometimes bypassed the procedure for approving change orders; split up change orders to avoid the need for school board or top management approval; didn't adequately justify or support change orders; and overpaid some invoices. As a result, the Auditor's Office concludes, the district spent as much as $1.2 million more than it needed on seven different projects that together cost about $281 million.