State Auditor Rob Sand said Tuesday he cannot fulfill a request from state lawmakers to conduct a special investigation of Des Moines Public Schools’ finances, but he welcomes an audit request from qualified individuals within the district.
Three Republican state senators have called on Sand, a Democrat, to audit the Des Moines school district following the arrest of former superintendent Ian Roberts for immigration and gun violations.
But Sand said state law does not allow him to fulfill that request, because lawmakers can only request audits of state departments.
To investigate DMPS, Sand said he would have to receive a written request from a district employee or a school board member, or receive a petition signed by 100 people who live in the district.
“And if we do that, we will conduct a review, because we do think that there are important questions that need answering,” he said at a news conference. “But that’s about accountability, and that’s about truth seeking. It’s not about politics.”
The AP has reported that Roberts recommended the school district hire a consulting firm that he worked for. Sand said that raises concerns.
“He tried to have emergency approval of a contract to a firm that he was tied to,” he said. “That right there makes any auditor go, ‘Boy, we better look at every piece of that spending.’”
District finance officials warned Roberts that would be a conflict of interest, according to the AP, but the district later paid the same consulting firm a smaller amount for a team-building exercise. In the district's most recent audit, a private auditing firm issued a "clean" opinion of DMPS' finances.
Sand said his office would keep the names of people who request an audit secret.
Republican Sens. Jesse Green of Boone, Kerry Gruenhagen of Walcott and Lynn Evans of Aurelia sent the letter to Sand last week calling on him to audit DMPS to ensure the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars going into the district are property accounted for.
Sand, who is running for governor, said the senators, “either knew that that request was something I couldn’t fulfill legally and knew they were inviting me to break the law, or they were just totally ignorant of the law and really focused on politics rather than getting things right.”
On Tuesday, Green said Iowa law gives Sand the authority to initiate an audit of governmental subdivisions, including school districts, when concerns are raised.
"If he believes the auditor of the state of Iowa cannot audit entities where taxpayer dollars are being spent, then what does the state auditor do?" Green asked. "Rob Sand can hold as many press conferences as he wants, he can complain about any bill he wants and print out as many props as he wants, but at the end of the day, he has spent more time and money arguing with our call than focusing on his duties as the state's auditor."
Sand said state law would allow legislators to request an audit of the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, which ran a background check and issued an education license to Roberts in 2023.
