High school seniors’ push for transparency validated by audit of public school-funding foundation

An audit has vindicated two San Diego high school seniors who raised concerns about how money was handled by “foundations” established to help area high schools.

Kevin Wang and Litong Tiang published a report last year calling for greater transparency into the Canyon Crest Academy Foundation, which handled donations for their robotics team and other student groups.

The pair, who called themselves Ravens for Transparency and have since graduated, criticized the foundation for taking 25% of dollars raised for its discretionary fund and administrative costs, and for failing to report its executive director’s pay in multiple years of tax filings, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Wang and Tiang were initially met with backlash – including from Canyon Crest Principal Brett Killeen, who called their report “grossly erroneous” in an email to families. But this month the San Dieguito Union High School District board accepted an independent audit with 17 recommendations for improving its four high school foundations.