Jared Black, the district’s business administrator, told the Cache County School Board on March 20 that the district is participating in a statewide audit of school construction and procurement procedures and that staff were also responding to a separate Legislative Auditor’s Office review of how public entities use internal audit functions.

“We continue to participate, quite heavily in, ongoing state audit about school construction and procurement procedures,” Black said, adding that the Legislative Auditor’s Office also contacted the district the afternoon of the meeting about an audit evaluating internal audit effectiveness.

Black summarized financial items from the just-concluded legislative session: the district expects a 4% increase to the WPU (weighted pupil unit), an educator salary adjustment and a one-time bonus for school-based classified personnel. He said the district anticipates receiving initial funding numbers from USBE (Utah State Board of Education) the following week and will incorporate those figures into budget work and FTE allocations.

On fraud risk, Black provided the board with the district’s annual fraud risk assessment required by the state auditor’s office and said the district remains in the “low” risk category. He noted several internal steps — for example, an ethical-behavior checklist for employees — could move the assessment toward a “very low” category but implementation timing is not yet set.

Board President Terry Rhodes described a separate policy process: Rhodes said he attends the State Board Trust Lands Advisory Committee and reported that the state board is rewriting trust-lands rules to address schools carrying forward more than 10% of allotted trust-land funds. Under the forthcoming rule, excess carryover above 10% would return to the district for reallocation to schools using their funds rather than remaining under state-level balances.

Rhodes also highlighted concerns about S.B. 37, a property-tax bill pending the governor’s signature. He said the measure shifts a portion of the property-tax line that communities expect will support local schools to the state general fund and that the legislature has committed to backfilling districts via income tax. Rhodes warned the change “is a fundamental change in tax policy” and noted income tax receipts are more volatile than property tax.

The board discussed next steps for the budget; Black said staff are on track to publish FTE allocations before spring break and will continue preparing budget materials once the district receives state funding numbers.