CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A comprehensive audit of state spending on public education should begin later this year, with the opening this week of the bidding period for a contract to conduct the statewide review.

The audit would be a "comprehensive examination of state spending on primary and secondary education," including financial audits of the state Department of Education, the Department of Education and the Arts, the Center for Professional Development, the state Board of Education, the eight Regional Education Service Agencies and the 55 county boards of education.

Gov. Joe Manchin's office has published a request for expressions of interest for the contract.

The compensative audit was one of several suggestions of a legislative task force on education that met throughout the spring and summer.

Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, said Tuesday her organization was among the first to call for a comprehensive audit.

"Our taxpayers pay their fair share for education, and frankly, I don't think a fair share is getting into the classroom," she said.

In the request for bids, the governor's office notes that the state spends nearly half of its total general revenue budget on public education, and that the state ranks fourth in per-capita personal income spent on education.

It also notes that, despite that spending, West Virginia ranks last in percentage of adults with college degrees, and 45th in percentage of adults who are high school graduates.

"These statistics suggest West Virginia is getting a poor return on its investment in primary and secondary education, a total of $3.5 billion in FY2010," the bid request states. "For that reason, the office of governor seeks a comprehensive efficiency audit of the state's primary and secondary educational system."

The winning bidder will be expected to identify redundancies and duplications of effort within the public education system, and come up with recommendations for policy, regulatory and structural changes to make the education system more cost-efficient.

Patrick Crane, education policy adviser for Manchin, said that while the legislative task force had considered having the legislative auditor's office conduct the audit, Manchin felt it is important to have an independent outside firm undertake the audit.

The estimated $300,000 to $500,000 cost of the audit will be paid out of the governor's civil contingency fund, Crane said.

Hale said WVFT members first raised the issue of conducting an audit, suggesting that their school systems were "top heavy" with spending at the administrative levels.

"I do think some local [school] boards are top heavy and some are not," she said.

"The taxpayers deserve to know where their money is going," she said. "I don't think we can look at any solutions [for public education] until we get that data."

Opening date for the expressions of interest is Sept. 23, with face-to-face interviews with bidders to follow.

Crane said that Manchin's office would like to award the contract in time to have the audit completed by the end of this year, so that any changes in state law recommended in the audit could be submitted to the Legislature for the 2011 regular session. Manchin is running for the U.S. Senate and could vacate the governorship before that session.

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.