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Finance director says two large grants delay state drawdowns as department completes prior-year cleanup
Summary
Finance staff told the Gadsden County School Board at a Feb. 27 financial workshop that two large federal grants — ESSER and Title IV — remain open while staff finish prior‑year corrections; the district cannot use the state portal to draw additional funds until its grant reports are reconciled.
Miss Roon, finance presenter for the district, told the school board at its Feb. 27 financial workshop that two large grants remain open and are delaying the district's ability to draw funds through the state's portal.
Miss Roon said, "We have 2 last grants that we're trying to close out. The finance department is also working very closely with DOE. We had a conversation on Friday, with Miss Pritchetton, trying to make sure that we clean up our numbers as best we can so that we can close out reports for our grants. Currently, we are frozen with the state. So until we get those reports turned in, we will not be able to draw down additional funds."
The district identified the two remaining grants as the ESSER grant and a Title IV grant. Roon said those two were the largest and required the most corrections because prior draws needed matching expenditures. She described a multi-step verification process: confirming budgets match grant submissions, checking coding in the district's Skyward financial system, verifying expenditures do not exceed draws, and converting the reconciled figures into spreadsheets to submit to the state.
Why it matters: unresolved grant reporting can pause state portal drawdowns even while federal funding remains accessible through direct federal channels. Roon told the board that, aside from the two grants, the district had completed verification work on other grants and hoped to finish the remaining submissions by Friday.
Board members pressed for more detail on cash status and reconciliations. A board member asked about bank reconciliations for current-year deposits; Miss Roon answered that the district has entered prior‑year information but had not completed full bank reconciliations because the state asked staff to prioritize grant reporting. She said auditors were in the district this week and were aware of the sequencing.
Roon said the district had assigned Miss Deborah Young as a budget manager focused on getting grants into Skyward and updating the chart of accounts so expenditures can be posted against each grant. Roon described targeted training for office managers and staff to improve coding and separation of duties after repeated audit findings.
Board response and next steps: Chairman Brooks and other members asked for a clear estimate of the district's available balance once reconciliations are complete. Roon said she expected to have a clearer position by the next monthly board meeting and asked the board to hold staff accountable to that timeline.
Ending: The workshop discussion closed with staff reiterating the Friday target for completing the two grant reconciliations and with the board signaling it would expect updated bank reconciliations and an estimated fund balance at the next meeting.
