The details
Each year the district receives an audit report, with the FY 2023-24 overview being provided by Alonzo, Bacarisse Irvine and Palmer, PC.
Audit Senior Manager Jeremy Barbado said the opinion on the financial statements is that they are clean and in conformity with the generally accepted accounting principles of the United States.
“It is the highest opinion you can have from an independent accounting firm,” he said.
Within the audit, federal programs looked at included:
- Child and Adult Food Program
- Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds
- Special Education Cluster Program
Breaking it down
The FY 2023-24 audit showed that the total fund balance of the district as of the audit period was $101 million with $99 million of that being unassigned.
Barbado said that $99 million was around four months of operating expenses. The audit for the prior fiscal year showed the district at seven and a half months of reserve balance.
The district received around $245 million in revenue and had around $268 million in expenses, resulting in a nearly $22 million dip in fund balance.
Superintendent Milton “Rob” Fields III pointed out that the original planned deficit was around $33 million, resulting in around $11 million in funds saved from the previous fiscal year.
What else?
Barbado said that there was one notable remark in the audit related to the indirect cost rate proposal to the Texas Education Agency. This is a document which uses audits to submit indirect program costs to the TEA for the upcoming fiscal year.
“When we tied down some of those numbers, we noticed that it wasn’t our audited numbers from the 2022 audit,” he said.
Barbado recommended the district tighten up practices when submitting information to the state.
With the board approval of the report, it will be submitted to the TEA for review, Barbado said.
