Deaf Education

In 1965, Congress passed legislation creating the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a postsecondary institution intended to train and educate deaf persons for successful employment. The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in upstate New York subsequently agreed to host NTID. The Education Department assumed responsibility in fiscal year 1980 for administering the agreement with RIT and for overseeing NTID. GAO found that NTID has done a poor job of accounting for how it has spent federal funds, has inappropriately carried over federal funds from one year to the next, and may have used federal funds improperly. Although NTID is not under the same restrictions that federal agencies and grantees must abide by when using federal funds, some NTID expenditures did not directly relate to NTID operations. Education Department and NTID officials believe that NTID's dependence on federal dollars will continue at its present level of 83 percent of total revenues despite program changes that have occurred. Review of NTID has been minimal.

GAO found that: (1) NTID has not adequately accounted for its expenditure of federal funds and has inappropriately carried over federal funds from one fiscal year to the next fiscal year; (2) NTID expenditures totalling more than $32,000 during fiscal years 1990 through 1992 were inappropriate because of the amount or type of expenditure; (3) it is impossible to determine whether NTID uses federal funds for a particular purpose, since it does not maintain separate accounts for its expenditures; (4) NTID has recently established separate accounts to track its expenditure of federal and nonfederal funds and developed policies on the expenditure of federal funds; (5) Education and NTID officials believe that NTID dependence on federal financial support will likely continue at its present level; (6) NTID program and financial operations have been subject to minimal review; (7) Education is not using the information it receives from NTID to assess the Institute's programs and activities; and (8) legislative amendments should improve Education's oversight of NTID spending.