An ongoing state audit of the Springfield school district showed that 10 checks totaling more than $213,000 failed to appear on monthly school board check registers in 2009 and 2010.
That kept the school board from OK'ing the checks, a contradiction of its own approval policy.
As a result, the finance department has changed when it runs the check reports so complete monthly registers go to the board.
The glitch only affected a tiny fraction of the checks issued by the district in recent years and didn't disrupt the recipients' ability to cash the checks.
Amounts for the 10 omitted ranged from a low of $465.28 to an employee up to $99,844.07 to a company, according to the district Financial and Operations report for April.
District officials said the 10 checks were manually issued at the end of the month or near a major holiday and were entered into the system after the monthly check register was generated for the board.
The Financial and Operations report also included an explanation of how the error occurred and details about the number, date, vendor and amount for each of the 10 checks.
"Because the manual checks weren't in the system yet, they weren't on the registers," the report stated. "They, likewise, didn't appear on the next month register because the register pulls in the checks based on check date."
Chief Financial Officer Steve Chodes was out of the office Monday but district spokeswoman Teresa Bledsoe was able to provide details and answer questions.
The district issues computer-generated checks every Friday but has the flexibility to issue manual checks during the week if there is a compelling reason, Bledsoe said.
"It would have to be a unique circumstance that would create a financial hardship for the employee or the vendor," she said.
Bledsoe said in nearly all cases, the computer-generated and manual checks are included in the register that goes to the board.
She added that the small number of omitted checks ultimately showed up in year-end reports. But having them thus noted does not amount to board approval in line with its payment procedures.
Two school board policies approved in 1992 govern those procedures; both require the board to give final approval for all bills paid. One states "the superintendent or designee will prepare and present to the board for approval each month a list of bills paid."
The finance staff members are required to take the same steps -- and check the same supporting documentation -- whether the check is issued by manually or by computer.
A citizen-driven state audit of the district started in the fall and is expected to wrap up late this year. District officials have repeatedly said they hope the process points out ways to improve by tightening controls and oversight.