Nearly Ten Years of Internal Auditing at TUSD: Where Are the Audit Reports from Previous Internal Auditors?

John C. Blackshire, Jr. The Accountware Group | November 2026

The Tucson Unified School District Established Its Internal Audit Function in 2017. After Multiple Internal Auditors and Nearly a Decade of Work, Taxpayers Should Have Easy Access to the Complete History of Audit Findings.

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) has maintained a formally established Internal Audit function since February 14, 2017.

Establishment date documented in TUSD's 2017 Internal Audit Charter.

During that period, the district has employed successive internal auditors, including former Internal Auditor Martha Smith and current Internal Auditor Paul Houston.

The current Internal Audit webpage identifies Houston and explains the department's audit procedures. Yet it does not provide a comprehensive, easily navigable archive of audit reports from the department's history.

Older audit documents can be found on TUSD's website, including reports and management responses associated with Smith's tenure. However, finding them may require targeted searches rather than simply navigating the department's public webpage.

That raises an important question:

After nearly ten years of operating an Internal Audit function, why doesn't TUSD provide taxpayers with a complete, centralized history of the audits performed, the deficiencies identified, and management's corrective actions?

This is not a minor website-design issue.

It concerns the public's ability to evaluate how district leadership has managed risks, internal controls, financial resources, and operational problems over time.

1. TUSD's Internal Audit Function Has a Documented History

TUSD's Internal Audit Charter, included in a September 29, 2017, Audit Committee document, states that the internal audit activity was established by the Governing Board and Audit Committee on February 14, 2017.

The charter assigned the Internal Audit function responsibilities involving operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, information technology controls, financial statement reliability, internal controls, risk management, and safeguarding assets.

These responsibilities are substantial.

They are intended to provide independent information about how the district manages public resources and whether its internal controls are operating effectively.

Since 2017, TUSD has experienced changes in executive leadership, financial conditions, operational challenges, and internal audit personnel.

A historical collection of internal audit reports would help taxpayers understand which risks were identified during those periods and how management responded.

Without that history readily available, it becomes more difficult to evaluate whether problems identified years ago have been corrected or continue to recur.

2. What Happened to the Work of the Previous Internal Auditors?

The history of TUSD's Internal Audit Department should not begin with its current auditor.

The district had internal audit personnel before Paul Houston, including Martha Smith, whose name appears on multiple reports and management responses.

For example, TUSD's own website hosts:

• A 2023 School Safety Department Internal Audit Report, identifying Martha Smith as Internal Auditor.

• A 2024 Human Resources audit management response, addressed to Smith.

• A 2023 Employee Relations audit management response, also identifying Smith.

These documents demonstrate that earlier internal audit work exists on the district's website.

But there is a difference between a document being stored on a public web server and being readily accessible through an organized public reporting system.

Taxpayers should not need to know a former auditor's name, guess the title of an audit, or use specialized search techniques to locate the district's historical audit work.

If TUSD has employed two internal auditors before Houston, the public should be able to review the work performed during both earlier tenures.

The complete personnel chronology and report inventory should be established from district records rather than inferred from the reports found online.

3. Why Are Recent Audit Materials Easier to Identify Than Historical Reports?

TUSD's current Office of Internal Audit webpage describes the audit process under Paul Houston.

The webpage explains audit planning, fieldwork, communication of findings, management responses, report distribution, and follow-up procedures.

However, it does not provide a complete chronological list of reports issued since 2017.

The public should be able to answer straightforward questions:

• How many internal audits were completed under each internal auditor?

• Which departments were audited?

• What significant findings were reported?

• Which management action plans were completed?

• Which deficiencies remained unresolved?

• Were any recurring deficiencies identified by successive auditors?

The answers should not depend on whether a taxpayer can locate an old PDF through an internet search.

A comprehensive archive would allow the public to evaluate Internal Audit's work across changes in personnel and district leadership.

Internal audit findings are institutional records. Their accessibility should not depend on which individual currently occupies the Internal Auditor position.

4. The October 2026 Transportation Audit Demonstrates the Value of Public Reporting

The October 5, 2026, Transportation and Fuel Operations Internal Audit Report, signed by Paul Houston, identifies significant financial and operational issues.

Among its findings are:

• An estimated $5.5 million to $7.3 million in potential financial benefits.

• Approximately $7.5 million in contracted transportation expenditures during the 2025–2026 school year.

• Missing monthly fuel reconciliations.

• Weaknesses in vehicle parts inventory management.

• Vendor payment delays that caused some suppliers to temporarily withhold services.

• Opportunities to improve bus routing and school bell schedules.

These findings illustrate the potential value of a functioning Internal Audit Department.

But they also raise historical questions.

Did previous internal auditors examine transportation operations?

Were similar issues identified in earlier years?

Did management implement the corrective actions proposed in those reports?

Did prior audits identify weaknesses in financial management, vendor payments, or

inventory controls that remained unresolved?

Without an accessible historical audit register, taxpayers cannot readily determine whether the 2026 findings represent newly emerging risks or longstanding problems.

That is why historical audit reporting matters.

5. TUSD's Own Policies Recognize the Public's Right to Audit Information

TUSD Governing Board Policy DIFA establishes requirements for the Office of Internal Audit.

The policy requires annual reporting addressing completed audits, significant findings, corrective actions, unresolved issues, and risk-based audit planning.

It also states that Internal Audit work product becomes subject to public records disclosure at the specified reporting stage, except for privileged attorney-client materials and communications.

Policy DIF separately addresses the public-records status of final fiscal management review and audit reports following presentation to the Governing Board.

Neither policy should be interpreted as automatically requiring every report to appear on a particular webpage.

Nevertheless, the policies establish that audit reporting is an important part of district governance and that completed reports may be subject to public disclosure.

A district committed to transparency should make routinely disclosable reports accessible without requiring taxpayers to reconstruct nearly a decade of audit history through public records requests.

The issue is not simply whether TUSD will release an audit report when asked. The issue is why taxpayers cannot readily see a complete list of the reports that exist.

6. Historical Audit Reports Are Essential to Evaluating Management Accountability

One of the most important responsibilities of an Internal Audit Department is following up on previously identified deficiencies.

An audit finding should not disappear from management's accountability simply because the auditor who identified it leaves the district.

Consider an internal audit identifying weaknesses in purchasing controls.

Management might promise to revise purchasing procedures, improve supervisory approvals, and establish additional monitoring.

If a subsequent audit identifies similar deficiencies, the Audit Committee should be able to determine whether management implemented its original commitments.

The same principle applies to payroll, financial reporting, transportation, information technology, and other district operations.

A complete historical archive would allow the public and the Governing Board to identify patterns involving recurring deficiencies, delayed corrective actions, and management's acceptance of unresolved risks.

This information becomes especially important when financial or operational problems persist across multiple administrations.

Changing internal auditors should never erase the institutional history of unresolved internal control deficiencies.

7. The Audit Committee Should Have Access to the Complete Audit History

TUSD's Audit Committee is expected to help the Governing Board oversee internal controls, financial reporting, and management's corrective actions.

The district's published Audit Committee responsibilities include examining management's stewardship of district resources and evaluating whether management has adequately corrected reported deficiencies.

Those responsibilities require more than reviewing the latest audit report.

The Audit Committee should have access to a historical inventory of completed audits, management responses, corrective action commitments, and follow-up results.

For a department established in 2017, that means examining nearly ten years of work.

A historical review could reveal whether significant risks have been consistently addressed, whether the annual audit plans covered the district's most important risks, and whether management's corrective action commitments were fulfilled.

It could also help the Committee determine whether the Internal Audit function has been adequately staffed and supported over time.

8. What Should TUSD Publish?

The solution is straightforward.

TUSD should establish a permanent public Internal Audit Reports Archive covering the entire period since the function's establishment on February 14, 2017.

The archive should identify the work performed under each successive internal auditor.

At a minimum, it should contain:

Information	Purpose
Fiscal year and internal auditor	Establish historical responsibility
Audit title and department	Identify the subject examined
Final report and issuance date	Provide access to findings
Management response	Document management's position
Management Action Plan	Identify corrective commitments
Follow-up report	Demonstrate corrective action status
Unresolved findings	Identify continuing risks

Where reports contain legally protected information, appropriate redactions can be applied.

If a report is unavailable, the register should indicate whether it was never issued, cannot be located, or is being withheld under an applicable legal exception.

The district should also publish its annual Internal Audit reports and annual risk-based audit plans, subject to appropriate confidentiality considerations.

9. The Governing Board Should Request an Accounting of Nearly Ten Years of Internal Audit Work

The Governing Board should direct district administration to prepare a complete inventory of Internal Audit activities since February 2017.

That inventory should identify each internal auditor who served during the period, the dates of service, the audits completed, and the final disposition of significant findings.

The Board should then reconcile that inventory with the reports currently available to the public.

This would answer several important questions.

Were all completed audit reports retained?

Were final reports distributed according to district policy?

Were management responses documented?

Were significant corrective actions independently verified?

Are reports from previous auditors available to taxpayers on the same basis as current reports?

The Board should also determine whether any historical reports require restoration to the website or inclusion in a new centralized archive.

This is not an effort to revisit every management decision made during the past decade.

It is an effort to establish a reliable historical record of the district's independent audit work and the disposition of significant findings.

10. Transparency Should Survive Changes in Leadership

The Office of Internal Audit belongs to the district, not to any individual internal auditor, Superintendent, CFO, or Governing Board administration.

Its reports are part of TUSD's institutional history.

The findings may document financial weaknesses, operational problems, compliance issues, or opportunities to improve public services.

They may also demonstrate that management implemented effective improvements.

Both types of information deserve appropriate public visibility.

A complete audit archive can provide evidence of management accomplishments as well as unresolved problems.

It also allows taxpayers to evaluate governance over time rather than relying exclusively on the latest audit report or the statements of current district leadership.

For an organization funded by public resources, that continuity is important.

Conclusion: Nearly Ten Years of Internal Audit Work Should Not Be Difficult to Find

TUSD formally established its Internal Audit function on February 14, 2017.

Nearly ten years later, the district has had successive internal auditors and has produced reports examining the management of public resources.

Some historical audit documents remain publicly accessible on TUSD's website.

However, the district's principal Internal Audit webpage does not provide a comprehensive, searchable history of the department's work.

That leaves taxpayers without a straightforward way to determine what was audited, what deficiencies were identified, what management promised to correct, and whether those commitments were fulfilled.

The question is not whether the current Internal Auditor is performing valuable work. The October 2026 Transportation and Fuel Operations audit demonstrates that Internal Audit can identify substantial financial and operational issues.

The question is why the public cannot readily examine the complete history of that work, including reports issued under previous internal auditors.

TUSD's Governing Board should direct the district to publish a comprehensive Internal Audit Reports Archive covering the entire period since February 2017.

That archive should include final reports, management responses, and follow-up results, subject to applicable disclosure restrictions.

Taxpayers should not have to submit multiple public records requests or search through years of committee documents to understand what their district's internal auditors have

found.

Nearly ten years of internal auditing should produce nearly ten years of accessible accountability—not merely a webpage describing how audits are performed.