Enterprise City Schools board approves 2024-25 budget amendment after clean audit

The Enterprise City Board of Education received an unqualified independent auditor's opinion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2024, and approved a 2024-25 budget amendment that increases the district's budget primarily because of a recently issued bond.

The auditor, Tyler Denaway of Carr Riggs & Ingram, told the board the firm issued "the highest level opinion that we as a CPA profession offer, which is an unqualified opinion," saying the opinion means the firm believes the financial statements are materially accurate. Denaway highlighted the district's general fund balance of about $41,000,000 — roughly seven months' worth of expenses — and said that the board invested roughly $7.8 million in capital assets during the audited year while recording about $5.4 million in depreciation.

The unqualified audit and the financial detail provided context for the budget amendment the board approved. Jesse James, the district's CSFO, told the board the amendment increases the adopted budget by a little more than $19 million; about $17 million of that increase reflects bond proceeds, leaving roughly $1.7 million in additional resources to allocate for the year. James walked the board through line-item additions and carryover funds that account for the bulk of the net increase.

Among the new or finalized allocations James listed were a teacher allocation adjustment ($83,900), a Numeracy Assessment Act allocation ($13,846), math-intervention funds ($16,600), a $30,000 Board Certified Behavior Analyst grant award, a special-education teacher stipend allocation ($48,452), principal leadership stipends (totaling about $213,500 including benefits), robotics grant awards ($19,127), a $35,000 state allocation for AEDs with a related student-training requirement, a Lieutenant Governor competitive grant award of $350,000 to help offset a roofing project, and summer academic program funds (approximately $100,000 for summer math camp and $90,160 for summer reading camp). James also said the district received bond proceeds above par (a sale premium) and recorded $17,262,000 in receipts from that sale.

Denaway described the district's fiscal position as strong, noting that the fund-balance level and ongoing capital investment both indicated fiscal health. He also described the single-audit testing the firm performed for federal programs; the auditor said the district expended more than the single-audit threshold and that the audit tested the Education Stabilization Fund (ESSER), the Child Nutrition Cluster and Impact Aid. Denaway reported no findings on either the financial-statement audit or the single audit for the year under review.

After the presentations, the board approved the 2024-25 budget amendment as presented by James. The board also approved a separate motion to hire up to 25 co-op students for the 2025-26 school year; the motion authorizes the district to place those students in career-appropriate positions across schools and departments.

Votes at a glance

- Approve amended agenda for June 12, 2025 meeting — approved (voice/raise-hand vote recorded during meeting). - Accept independent auditor's report (presentation; no separate vote required). - Approve 2024-25 budget amendment (as presented by CSFO Jesse James) — approved. Note: amendment increases the budget by ~2019,000,000; approximately $17,000,000 of that reflects bond proceeds and ~1,700,000 represents net new allocations. - Authorize hiring of up to 25 co-op students for 2025-26 — approved.

Ending

Board members and district finance staff framed the audit and the budget amendment as aligned steps: auditors reported a clean financial audit and the CSFO used the finalized fiscal-year numbers and newly received grants and bond proceeds to add targeted allocations and carryover funds to the 2024-25 budget. Board members raised no substantive objections during the motions recorded at the meeting.