St. Louis Public Schools unveils corrective-action plan and five-year financial strategy after state audit

St. Louis Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Johnson told the Board of Education’s Budget, Equity & Transparency Committee on Aug. 27 that the district is developing a five-year strategic financial and capital plan in response to findings from the state auditor and recent financial statement audits.

The district presented a corrective-action plan matrix and an executive summary describing next steps, including modeling and scenario planning, revenue forecasting, stakeholder engagement and more rigorous board review. “We are going to develop a long term five-year strategic financial and capital plan,” Johnson said. “We are actually planning on being, have a balanced budget by 2027.”

The district presented the state audit’s findings to the committee, saying the audit concluded the district did not have an adequate long-term financial plan and that, if corrective actions are not implemented, projected fund-balance levels “will fall below 30% of expenditures in the fiscal year 2027, and then below 20% in 2028,” and could be “below 3%” by fiscal year 2030.

Why it matters: The committee is charged with reviewing budget processes and monitoring implementation of audit…