For business & finance leaders
Your CalSTRS exposure is a budget line item you can't see yet.
CalSTRS audits 83.4% of districts and finds reporting errors. The median impact is $5,885 — but that's just what they find in 3–4 sampled members. Your full exposure scales with your workforce. Irys quantifies it before the audit does.
Risk profiles built from 787 CalSTRS employer audit reports — 1,612 findings across 661 districts in 16 California counties. Public record, obtained via PRA 2131.
- All data from public records
- County-specific benchmarks
- See your numbers first
/ 02 · The problem
You're managing a financial risk you haven't measured.
You manage the budget down to the dollar — LCFF allocation, contribution rates, reserve requirements. But one financial risk has never been quantified: CalSTRS audit exposure. Your payroll team submits reporting the way it always has, and you assume it's correct, because no one has told you otherwise. Across 787 audits, 83.4% of districts were told otherwise.
When findings arrive, the cost comes from three directions. First, the direct hit: median realized loss $5,885 (the floor); 3+ findings $12,224. Use the $2,373 median per-member rate against your membership and it's a different number — $1.2M for 500 members, $4.7M for 2,000.
Second, the staff cost: 44% of findings mandate a 3–5 year retroactive self-audit — 80–200 hours of unplanned work you didn't budget for.
Third, the board conversation: explain a finding, a correction, and a disruption, none of which were in your forecast.
Irys replaces the unknown with a number — your county's finding rate, your projected exposure by member count, the error categories most likely to be flagged, and the corrections needed. Identified before the audit, resolved on your budget cycle, reported to the board as proactive governance.
/ 03 · The evidence
What 787 audits reveal about districts like yours.
Risk profiles built from 787 CalSTRS employer audit reports — 1,612 findings across 661 districts in 16 California counties. Public record, obtained via PRA 2131.
“The District must initiate a review of the extra-duty earnings reported to the DB Program from the 2011-12 school year through the current school year, and identify additional members whose earnings were similarly reported.”
83.4%
of audited districts receive findings (656 of 787)
$1.75M
conservative realized loss across 191 quantified findings
3.9×
cascade: 1 finding $3,137 → 3+ findings $12,224
60 days
to compile and submit corrections once findings issue
/ 04 · What you get
Turn CalSTRS compliance from a blind spot into a budget line.
Know your dollar exposure — not just your compliance status
Probability-weighted financial risk from real per-member error rates × your membership. A projected figure you can plan around, present, and act on before audit season.
Benchmark against your county and district size
See how your county's finding rate compares to the statewide 83.4%, and what districts your size typically face. Every county has a distinct risk profile from actual audit history.
Eliminate the 60-day budget surprise
The 60-day mandate costs staff time, budget flexibility, and board credibility. Irys moves error detection before the audit, so corrections happen on your fiscal calendar.
See the full iceberg, not just the audit sample
CalSTRS samples 3–4 members; if the error is systemic, your exposure scales with your entire membership. Irys extrapolates sample to population so you see the real number.
Give the board data, not apologies
Proactive compliance is a governance strength. Irys provides the framework to show the board: here's our risk, here's what we found, here's what we fixed — first.
/ 05 · The path
From unknown risk to quantified and corrected in three steps.
-
01
Quantify your exposure
Connect your reporting data. Irys maps your district size and county against the 787-report dataset to calculate your probability-weighted exposure.
⚠ Needs product input #2 -
02
Identify every flaggable error
Irys scans against 10 finding categories and 1,612 patterns. You see what CalSTRS would flag, ranked by financial impact and likelihood.
-
03
Correct before audit season
Resolve errors on your timeline. Corrections are formatted for submission, staff time is planned, and your next board report reads “CalSTRS compliance: verified.”
⚠ Needs product input #1
/ 06 · Our Story
We saw a $66 million problem hiding in plain sight.
Across 16 California counties, school districts face a combined median projected CalSTRS exposure of $66 million — and almost none of them know it. We obtained 787 employer audit reports through the Public Records Act, built the most comprehensive analysis of CalSTRS findings ever assembled, and turned it into a platform that lets business leaders see their exposure in dollars — and eliminate it before audit season.
Read our story/ 07 · Who we serve
Built for the people who own the district's financial operations.
K-12 School Districts
Business services teams managing CalSTRS reporting alongside LCFF, pension contributions, and annual audits.
Large Districts (500+ members)
Where per-member error rates multiply into six- and seven-figure projected exposure.
County Offices of Education
COEs that support multiple districts and need county-wide visibility into audit risk.
/ 08 · Proof & answers
The questions a buying committee actually asks.
Is 83.4% really the finding rate?
Yes — 656 of 787 CalSTRS employer audits in our dataset contain at least one finding. The data comes from public records obtained via PRA 2131.
How do you know what CalSTRS looks for?
We categorized every finding across 787 reports into 10 error types. The top three — extra-duty earnings, special-compensation misclassification, and post-retirement reporting — account for the majority of findings.
What if we've never been audited?
CalSTRS audits on a rotating basis. The 83.4% rate applies to all audited districts. A clean history means you haven't been checked yet — not that your reporting is correct.
What does the $1.75M figure represent?
The conservative total of realized losses across 191 findings where CalSTRS explicitly quantified the impact — one primary impact per finding, not a gross sum.
How accurate are the projected-exposure numbers?
They're built from per-member error rates in 127 findings with explicit sample sizes, and assume the error is systemic across your full membership. These are potential-exposure estimates, not predictions — we report P25, median, and P75.
Is the data really from public records?
Yes — every report was obtained via California Public Records Act request (PRA 2131). The dataset, methodology, and source attribution are fully transparent.
What's the difference between the $5,885 median and the $1.2M projection?
$5,885 is the median of what CalSTRS found in their 3–4 member sample. $1.2M is the median projection for a 500-member district if the same error rate applies across the full membership. The gap is the iceberg effect.
What if our county has a low finding rate?
Even Ventura County at 52.9% means more than half of audited districts get findings — and severity isn't predicted by rate. A single finding can carry a $12,224 median loss if it cascades.
Is the $1.75M figure the total exposure for all California districts?
No. $1.75M is the conservative realized loss from just 191 quantified findings in the sample. The projected statewide exposure, extrapolated to full membership, is orders of magnitude higher.
Can we use this for board reporting?
Yes — the exposure analysis is built to be presentable: county benchmarks, probability-weighted risk, and category breakdowns.
/ 09 · Book a demo
See your district's CalSTRS exposure — before CalSTRS does.
Book a demo and we'll calculate your projected exposure for a district your size, in your county — live.
Built on 787 CalSTRS audit reports · 661 districts across 16 counties · every number a matter of public record.