The Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) Board of Education Thursday vowed it would be more transparent with the public on how it plans to spend bond money after reviewing the findings of a state audit report on the now-shelved STEM academy expansion project.
Stay up to date with the latest from The Record. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter today!
“Although we complied with the law, transparency, confusion and mistrust developed by not including new schools in the long-range facility plan and on the ballot,” Trustee Dale Kinnear said at the August 27 school board meeting. “Much of the audit report was historical, as we’ve already said, but we must learn from that past in order to gain trust, in order to improve transparency and put ourselves in a position to pass a future bond.”
A June California State Auditor’s report, ordered by State Senator Sabrina Cervantes last year in response to community concerns, found that delayed decision-making between RUSD and the University of Riverside, California (UCR) impacted the progress of the then-proposed STEM Education Center.
After the district finalized all of the required documents and submitted it to UCR so that it could forward the plan to its governing body for approval last year, the university decided to put the project on hold to allow an incoming chancellor to learn about the project, the report said.
“According to the district’s assistant superintendent of facilities, planning and development, the district historically attended monthly standing meetings with representatives at [UCR],” the report stated. “But because the university had placed the STEM Center project on hold, it discontinued these monthly meetings as of June 2025.”
Assistant Superintendent Orin Williams rebutted that finding during his presentation to the board, explaining that RUSD and UCR never stopped communicating with one another. Instead, executive teams met regularly and ultimately decided to move forward with a districtwide approach. Williams added the audit showed RUSD did not misuse any bond funds or violate the law.
The report also found the district’s inconsistent communication about its plans to use Measure O funds led to reduced transparency. Measure O was a $392 million bond approved by voters in 2016 with stated goals of repairing, upgrading and building new schools.
The audit report found that the district did not clearly document the amount of bond money allocated for the STEM project and was also unable to provide documentation of a 2017 contract with an architectural firm.
“I can’t tell you what happened then, because I wasn’t here then, so I couldn’t find some of the records that were requested either,” Williams said. “But, within the last five years, we’ve done a remarkable job making adjustments, and so, the audit is kind of pointing out something that we already knew and already corrected.”
To ensure RUSD communicates clearly in the future, the state auditor recommended that the district develop a policy by the end of this year setting a consistent methodology for presenting budgets for future facility projects.
“We welcome those recommendations, because accountability is also about whether our families, staff and community can clearly understand what we are doing, why we are doing it and how decisions are made,” Superintendent Sonia Llamas said during the meeting. “When people feel that they don’t have the information they need, we have to listen to that.”
Llamas added that the district had already made strides to be more transparent since the audit’s release, but that she would be committed to continued transparency to rebuild trust with the community.
Trustees Noemi Hernandez Alexander and Jesse Tweed said they agreed with the superintendent’s sentiment and that they would help work toward that goal. Kinnear added that the district would need to learn from its shortcomings if the district hoped to see another bond measure approved in the near future.
“I strongly believe, and I think many of my colleagues join me, that we’ll need another facilities bond to continue improving our schools,” Kinnear said. “I also think that we must strategically plan for the passage of that future bond. I believe that it’s happening today as we continue to examine the audit findings and how we can improve.”
The Riverside Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet providing Riverside County with high-quality journalism free of charge. We’re able to do this because of the generous donations of supporters like you!