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Auditors give Sumter School District clean FY2024 opinion; board hears fund-balance and ESSER details
Summary
Independent auditors presented an unmodified opinion on the Sumter School District's FY2024 financial statements, and district finance staff briefed trustees on a $59.2 million June 30, 2024 fund balance, use of $3.09 million for the FY25 budget and continuing ESSER-related budget effects.
MULLEN & JENKINS audit representative Adrienne Berg told the Sumter School District Board of Trustees on Jan. 13 that the district's fiscal 2024 financial statements received an unmodified opinion.
"Unmodified opinion. That is a clean opinion. That is the highest opinion you can get on financial statements," Berg said during the board's regular meeting, adding auditors found no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control.
The auditors also completed a single-audit review of the district's federal programs and reported no findings for the Education Stabilization Fund (ESSER). Berg said the district spent approximately $20,000,000 under ESSER and qualified as a low-risk auditee, so auditors tested 20% of ESSER expenditures.
Chief Financial Officer Shatika Spearman presented the district's year-to-date financials and reiterated figures in the audit. She reported the district's June 30, 2024 fund balance would be about $59,201,000 and that unassigned general-fund balance represented roughly 42% of annual general-fund expenditures.
Spearman also told trustees the board-approved FY25 budget included a planned use of fund balance of $3,088,267 to help balance that year's budget. "We contributed that, and we designated it for facility dollars," she said in response to a trustee question about the reduction.
Trustees asked for more granular follow-up detail: which building repairs were charged to the general fund, which positions are funded by grants and how the district will absorb or replace grant-funded roles when grants expire. Spearman said some federal-funded activities will need to be absorbed or eliminated as ESSER and other grant funding sunsets, and the administration is preparing budget decisions for the 2025-26 cycle.
The auditor noted the district's general-fund trends across a five-year window showed revenues and expenditures rising but revenues exceeding expenditures in recent years. Berg highlighted that state guidance requires a minimum fund balance much lower than Sumter's level and that the district exceeded Government Finance Officers Association recommended reserves (20'25%).
Board members said they want clearer public messaging so community members understand the June 30, 2024 fund-balance snapshot does not reflect later FY25 spending decisions; one trustee noted the district used fund balance in the adopted FY25 budget to help balance the year.
The presentation also covered upcoming Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) pronouncements; auditors said the new statements would require implementation work but had not affected the FY2024 audit results.
The board received the audit presentation and asked the superintendent and CFO for follow-up memoranda on (1) the $3.09 million draw from fund balance, (2) the specific Furman Middle School repair(s) charged to the general fund, and (3) a line-item list of grant-funded positions and the anticipated timeline for those grants.
