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Audit Objective

Determine whether District officials effectively managed the District’s financial condition.

Determine whether the central and student treasurers properly accounted for extra-classroom activity (ECA) fund collections and disbursements.

Key Findings

• Appropriations were unrealistic and appropriated fund balance was not used. Appropriations exceeded expenditures by $11.1 million or 7.8 percent from 2014-15 through 2016-17.
• Recalculated unrestricted fund balance ranged between 10 and 11 percent of ensuing years’ appropriations, exceeding the 4 percent statutory limit.
• Student treasurers did not issue duplicate press-numbered receipts or prepare adequate accountabilities for all ECA collections.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt realistic annual budgets based on historical trends or other known trends and use appropriated fund balance to fund operations.
• Use surplus funds as a financing source to fund one-time expenditures and needed reserves or to reduce District property taxes.
• Ensure that student treasurers maintain adequate supporting documentation for all ECA fund collections.

District officials disagreed with several of our findings and recommendations and indicated they planned to take limited corrective action.