Joint finance committee flags school overspending, delayed county audit and inadequate corrective plan

A member of the Northumberland County joint finance committee told the committee Wednesday that Northumberland County Public Schools has multiple federal-program accounts showing sustained overspending, the county's statutory audit is months overdue, and the school system's corrective action plan “is not a corrective action plan.”

The remark came as the committee reviewed a year-over-year comparison of the school division's January 2024 and January 2025 revenue and expense reports. The committee member said revenues are approximately 61% of last year’s level while reported expenses are roughly 100% of last year, and flagged three accounts—special appropriations, federal programs and federal COVID-relief funds—that are currently showing negative balances.

Those shortfalls matter because, the committee member warned, continued deficits could require the county to cover school expenses or force other changes to county services or tax levels. The committee member also said the county’s statutory audit has been repeatedly delayed — originally expected in November, then December, January and now likely April — leaving supervisors without final audited 2024 figures while they prepare the county budget.

The committee member said the school reported $26.6 million in total revenue and about $23.5 million in expenses in the June 2024 closeout report but finished the year with a negative balance in some funds. The member added that the school told the committee it anticipated roughly $2 million in federal reimbursements (about $1.6 million already received and about $400,000 expected) but that even if those arrive, the division could still end the prior year with a deficit in the range discussed at the meeting.

The committee cited specific control and reporting problems identified in a recent forensic audit. That audit recommended 23 corrective actions; the committee member said 16 of those actions are not addressed in the school’s corrective action plan. Two items singled out in the workshop: a lack of documented market-research practices when awarding contracts and routine overrides of system purchase-order limits without timely reconciliation and formal budget amendments. The committee member said relying on subsequent supervisory “reprogramming” requests is not an adequate remedy and noted that the absence of proper reprogramming is not consistent with Virginia code.

The committee also questioned the school’s published monthly expense reports. The member said a July 2024 expense report presented to the school board listed about $360,000 in expenses while the posted check and ACH registers for the same month totaled over $800,000. The member later clarified that some monthly salary postings that appeared as $54,000 a month were $18,000 in the most recent month, underscoring inconsistencies the committee wants reconciled.

On procurement, the committee reviewed a December school-board presentation in which two playground vendors offered different, ADA-compliant bids; the division later took the higher-cost “Cadillac” option to the supervisors without additional market checks, the committee member said. The forensic audit recommended better market-research procedures; the school’s corrective action plan, the committee member said, only points to legal review by the attorney rather than procurement-market review.

Interim school finance staff and the superintendent were described in the workshop as cooperative; the committee member said a meeting with the superintendent and interim finance director had produced information narrowing a previously reported $2 million revenue discrepancy to about $170,000, pending the school board’s review. The interim finance director said staffing and unfilled positions complicate payroll forecasting — “you could be looking … it could be a hundred thousand dollars right there in one teacher,” she said — and that vacancies can temporarily reduce expenditures.

No formal votes were taken at the workshop. Committee discussion focused on two next steps: (1) securing the county statutory audit so supervisors have audited 2024 figures for budget work, and (2) asking the school to revise its corrective action plan to explicitly address the forensic audit’s recommendations on procurement market research, purchase-order overrides and timely budget amendments.

The committee member emphasized urgency: “I find it inexcusable that we've hired an auditor that can't get this work done on time,” and later said regarding the corrective action plan, “This is not, in any world I've ever lived in, a corrective action plan.” The meeting closed with a reminder that the school board is scheduled to receive additional budget materials at its upcoming meeting and that the committee will continue oversight work.

Ending: The workshop did not produce binding decisions; supervisors and school-board members will have the next opportunity to act when the county audit is released and when the school board reviews and (potentially) revises its corrective action plan at the school board meeting scheduled in March.