HARRISBURG -- The state Department of Education isn't doing enough to keep schools safe, Auditor General Jack Wagner said yesterday.

A performance audit shows the department failed to verify accuracy of violence statistics submitted by schools, did not comply with a state law requiring it to establish an Office for Safe Schools and has issued required school-safety reports up to 14 months late, rendering them useless, Mr. Wagner said.

"The Department of Education must correct these deficiencies by first taking ownership of its critical responsibility to oversee school safety throughout Pennsylvania," Mr. Wagner said.

"A child can't go to school and be intimidated and be afraid they're going to get beat up while in school."

Mr. Wagner said he has no confidence that safety reports are accurate and says the department has ignored glaring inconsistencies in them.

For example, one district with an enrollment of about 17,000 reported 664 incidents of misconduct involving weapons, drugs, sexual offenses or assaults during the 2005-06 school year but reported no arrests, Mr. Wagner said. Meanwhile, a slightly smaller district reported 43 similar incidents and 42 arrests.

Mr. Wagner refused to identify the districts, saying his audit covers only the department's actions, not those of the individual districts.

"I know which districts they are and [the data] is not accurate," he said.

Department spokesman Michael Race said discrepancies occur because what constitutes unsafe behavior is subjective.

"Even though there are guidelines for how to characterize safety incidents, there is discretion. What constitutes an incident of bullying in one district might be considered something else in another," he said. "It's also important to note that a violent act isn't necessarily a criminal act."

Each district has its own arrangement with local law enforcement. They establish agreement that dictates the kinds of behavior that require police intervention, he said.

Mr. Wagner's audit also targeted a $4 million-per-year grant program. The program is supposed to seek out schools with the worst safety records but instead awards grants on a competitive basis to districts that apply for the funding even if they don't have the greatest need, he said.

"The Department of Education has not been proactive, and there is a serious need for that to happen, and to happen now. Quite frankly, I am disappointed," he said. "The Department of Education has not been the leader it should be."

Mr. Race said Mr. Wagner's input is useful but that the audit did not give credit for improvements made since 2006.

"We have made efforts in recent years to vastly improve school safety and school-safety reporting," he said. "We are willing to talk with [Mr. Wagner] about ways to continue to build on progress we've made."

Just a week ago, the state Board of Education created a Safe Schools Advisory Committee to study the issue, he said.

Not all of Mr. Wagner's recommendations are feasible, he said.

For example, Mr. Wagner wants administrators to create an Office for Safe Schools with its own deputy secretary of education. Mr. Race said that could cost as much as $2 million a year, money the department would rather spend on instruction.

"Our preference is to target resources into the classrooms rather than simply establish an office in a building in Harrisburg," he said. "We have to spend money in the wisest and most strategic ways."