Anderson Smith and White partner Andy Deal reported an unmodified (clean) set of audit opinions for Davie County Schools’ fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, and delivered the draft financial statements to the board on Oct. 17.

Deal said the firm could not release final audit documents until the federal Office of Management and Budget issued final compliance supplements but that the drafts show no findings. "We're pleased to report this is an unmodified report," he told the board. He described the general fund balance at year-end as about $3.3 million and noted the district’s fund-balance policy target of 17% (the district is trending at about 24% of the general fund). Deal said the child nutrition fund’s accounting rules create large on-paper liabilities tied to state pension and retiree health plans and that he prefers to examine the child nutrition statement of cash flows; the child nutrition program ended the year with roughly $3.5 million in cash, a near break-even position after a small decline.

Deal highlighted that many districts nationwide lost fund balance in fiscal 2025 amid expiring COVID-era ESSER funds and rising mandated costs. He singled out rising retirement and retiree health contribution rates as a long-term pressure: district retirement-related contributions grew from about $4.9 million in 2016 to more than $10 million in the last reported year. That trend, Deal said, strains district budgets because the increases are set at the state level and are not directly offset by corresponding increases in state or federal program funds.

Board members asked several clarifying questions and thanked the auditors and finance staff. Deal closed by noting the audit produced no compliance findings and that auditors had received timely, complete documentation from district staff. The draft financial statements remain subject to final federal compliance supplements before formal release.