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Auditor gives Lewiston schools an unmodified opinion; committee hears carryover and federal fund details
Summary
External auditor RHR Smith presented an unmodified (clean) audit for year ended June 30, 2024, detailed a roughly $16.5 million general-fund carryover and noted about $24 million in federal funds that flow through the district.
RHR Smith principal Ron Smith told the Lewiston School Committee on Feb. 3 that the district’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2024, received an unmodified opinion — the highest-level audit opinion.
Smith walked committee members through key figures from the audit: about $26 million in total assets and roughly $9.3 million in liabilities in the general fund at 06/30/2024, leaving approximately $16.5 million in fund balance to carry into fiscal 2025. He identified roughly $6.7 million of undesignated general fund balance and explained the state statutory guideline that generally recommends holding the equivalent of one month of operating budget (roughly $8 million for Lewiston’s scale) in reserve.
Smith also emphasized that the audit does not include the roughly $24 million in federal entitlement and grant funds (Title I, special education, ESSER/ARPA-era funds and food service) that run through the district on a reimbursement basis. Several committee members asked for more detail about revenue sources that came in above estimates; Smith pointed to higher-than-expected state education subsidy and multilingual hardship funds as primary drivers.
The report noted routine management comments about best practices for school-based activity funds and recommended tighter oversight; auditors said Adam (finance staff) and others are addressing those items. The audit was shared with the committee in printed form and will be posted online, administration said.
No formal action was required; committee members thanked auditors and staff for the multimonth process and asked administration to provide follow-up language for budget transfers related to unspent cost centers.
