Auditors issue unmodified opinions for Dickinson Public Schools; board accepts 2023-24 audit

The Dickinson Public School Board accepted the district's annual audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, after Amy Piazza, who identified herself as a shareholder with the auditing team, presented the audit reports and financial highlights.

Piazza told the board the auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements and an unmodified single-audit opinion for the federal programs tested. She said the audit included an emphasis-of-matter paragraph noting the district's implementation of GASB 100 and a prior-period adjustment related to construction-in-progress for the Southwest Career Technical and Education Academy.

The auditors reported one repeat finding tied to the preparation and reclassification of government-wide journal entries; they said the finding has persisted but did not change the unmodified opinion on the financial statements. For the single-audit compliance work, the auditors reported no material noncompliance for the programs they tested and specifically named the special education cluster, the Comprehensive Literacy Development Grant and asset funds as the programs selected for testing. A prior finding about missing or insufficiently documented timesheets was tested and not repeated in 2024.

On financial highlights presented by the auditors, figures were reported as of June 30, 2024: general fund expenditures were about $65,200,000; regular instruction accounted for roughly $33,500,000 (about 51 percent of general fund expenditures), special education about $10,300,000 (about 16 percent) and districtwide services about $8,100,000 (about 12 percent). The auditors reported general fund revenues of about $64,000,000 (roughly $2.7 million over budget) and expenditures about $2.5 million over budget. The building fund reflected transfers of bond proceeds and reported about $1,800,000 in building-and-land sales during the fiscal year.

Piazza also reviewed the audit's required communications about estimates the district uses in its financial statements (net pension liability, OPEB, depreciation and lease accounting and incurred-but-not-reported self-insurance liabilities) and noted some unadjusted projected differences tracked during sampling. She thanked Naomi and the finance staff for their cooperation in completing the audit.

Board member Mister Seeks moved to approve the annual audit report; the motion was seconded by Vice President Schwartz. The board carried the motion on a roll-call vote with the recorded ayes: Mister Wilkie; Mister Ortegauskie; Vice President Schwartz; Mister Seegs; and the chair.

The approved audit report will be part of the district's official fiscal-year 2024 record and is expected to be used in upcoming budgeting and reporting tasks.