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SLPS board accepts FY23–24 audit but members raise questions about audit‑committee process
Summary
St. Louis Public Schools presented a clean FY23–24 audit from RubinBrown LLP and voted to retain the firm for the 2024–25 audit cycle. Several board members questioned whether the audit committee had been formally constituted before it made its recommendation and asked staff and counsel to clarify committee appointments and minutes.
St. Louis Public Schools presented a clean independent audit for fiscal 2023–24 and the board voted to accept the report and to retain RubinBrown LLP to perform the district audit for the 2024–25 school year.
Miss Johnson, chief financial officer, told the board: "St. Louis Public Schools for the year FY23–24 has received a clean audit for our independent financial statements." The board then voted to approve RubinBrown as the district auditor for the 2024–25 audit cycle.
The audit itself drew praise in the meeting and Miss Johnson detailed next steps: on‑site performance testing will begin in July, a draft report is expected in November, and the district plans final submissions in December 2025. She said the audit included a small number of repeat findings from 2020 and that corrective actions are under way.
Despite the clean result, several board members pressed for more detail about the process that produced the audit recommendation. Board Member Conover raised concerns about whether the audit committee had been properly constituted before it recommended the audit to the full board and asked whether the committee vote followed the district's rules and Missouri guidance. Conover said he was “very concerned that we may have violated our own board policies and perhaps Revised Missouri Statutes.”
General Counsel McLaughlin said the committee chair reported in the committee's draft minutes that the audit committee discussed the audit in a closed session and then "in open session the committee approved and accepted the audits and adjourned," and advised the full board to consider approving committee assignments explicitly so there is no ambiguity about membership going forward.
Board Member Conover asked that the board review the committee minutes and the committee appointment process; other members supported that clarification. Conover said he supported the audit work itself but wanted assurance that committee procedures were followed.
At the vote to accept the FY23–24 audit, the motion passed after board members recorded several dissenting and abstaining votes. The board separately approved RubinBrown to do the district audit for the 2024–25 school year.
Miss Johnson also responded to several technical questions raised during the meeting. When asked about a line in the audit suggesting a positive change in the general fund balance, she said she would confirm the exact figure and circulate the verified number to board members. She also described corrective actions the district plans for its financial systems, property inventory procedures, and reconciliations.
The board asked staff to provide the audit‑committee minutes and any written committee actions, and to return with a clear record of committee appointments and any related process steps so that the board's governance record aligns with Board Policy 190 and state requirements. Legal counsel said the board can address the committee membership question at the next available meeting and that staff would provide the relevant documents to the board.
The acceptance of the audit and the vote to retain RubinBrown end a multi‑year engagement in which the firm has audited the district for consecutive years. The district will move into the next audit cycle with RubinBrown and staff said they expect the routine of fieldwork, drafts, and finalization to follow the timeline presented at the meeting.
