A federal audit found that a University of Alabama program designed to help schools prevent violence is making progress toward its goals, but auditors say the university needs stronger safeguards to ensure some grant-funded work is properly documented.
The audit, released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, reviewed a $1.25 million federal grant awarded to the University of Alabama to help schools identify potential threats, improve safety procedures, and train students, teachers, and staff on violence prevention.
Since receiving the grant in 2023, the university has worked with rural high schools to create threat assessment teams, conduct school safety evaluations, and provide training focused on recognizing warning signs and responding to potential threats.
Federal auditors concluded the program is accomplishing what it set out to do.
According to the report, the university formed six school intervention teams, completed six school threat assessments, and conducted multiple training sessions covering behavioral health concerns, threat response strategies, and school safety practices.
“The University of Alabama demonstrated adequate progress towards achieving the grant’s stated goals and objectives,” auditors wrote into the report.
As of January 2026, the university had received roughly $614,000 of the grant’s total $1.25 million award.
Where auditors found concerns
While auditors praised the program’s progress, they identified issues with how some information was reported to the federal government.
In one report, the university confirmed 63 people participated in a training session, however, supporting records showed only 52 attendees. In another instance, the university reported creating intervention teams at five schools, but documentation showed six teams had been formed.
University officials reported back to the auditors stating the discrepancies were reporting errors.
Auditors said the mistakes were relatively minor, but recommended the university create more formal procedures to verift information before submitting reports to the DOJ.
Employee time tracking
The audit’s biggest concern involved how university employees track time spent working on the grant.
Federal funding paid part, or all of, the salaries for nine employees involved in the project.
Auditors found no issues with with employees who directly tracked their hours, however, concerns were raised about three salaried employees whose work was split among multiple projects and funding sources.
Unlike hourly employees, those workers are not required to submit traditional timesheets. Instead, the university uses a system that estimates how much of an employee’s time is devoted to each project and later required certifications confirming the work performed.
Auditors argued the system may not provide enough documentation to show exactly how much time employees spent working on the school safety grant.
The report noted that one employee estimated spending about 15 percent of their time on the project despite being paid through the grant at a 20 percent allocation.
Because of that, auditors said there isa risk that federal grant funds could be used to pay for work unrelated to the school violence prevention program.
But the university disagreed with the payroll findings resulting in university officials pushing back on that conclusion.
In a formal response, the University of Alabama said its payroll and reporting system complies with federal regulations and includes multiple layers of oversight.
University officials argued that salary allocations are reviewed by principal investigators, grant administrators, and accounting personnel, and that employees regularly certify their work through a formal effort-reporting process.
Additionally, the university said auditors relied too heavily on comments made during employee interviewers rather than the institution’s established documentation and review procedures.
“The University’s processes collectively provide a system of internal control that offers reasonable assurance … that payroll charges to sponsored projects are accurate, supported, and compliant,” university officials wrote.
What’s next?
The DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs agreed with all three recommendations made by auditors and said it will work with the university to strengthen reporting procedures and review payroll documentation.
The audit did not identify any misuse of grant funds and did not require the university to repay any money.
Instead, federal officials are asking the university to improve documentation and demonstrate that employee time charged to the grant accurately reflects the work that is performed.
The grant remains active through September 2026 as the university continues its efforts to help schools recognize and prevent potential acts of violence before they occur.
