New Caney ISD audit returns clean opinion; board approves 2023–24 financial report

The New Caney Independent School District Board of Trustees approved the district's annual financial report for the year ended Aug. 31, 2024, following a presentation by the district's audit partner, Greg Peterson. Peterson told the board the auditors would render an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and an unmodified single-audit opinion for federal awards.

Peterson said the audit tested two federal programs'the Child Nutrition Cluster and Title I Part A'which together represented about 56% coverage of the district's federal expenditures. He said auditors did not identify any noncompliance considered direct and material to those programs. The auditors also reported no control deficiencies, significant deficiencies, or material weaknesses in internal control.

The auditor summarized key figures from the financial statements: general fund revenues totaled about $210 million, a $13 million increase year over year; general fund expenditures were about $212.2 million, a $14 million increase related to higher full-time-equivalent staffing and pay rates. Peterson said property tax revenue decreased by roughly $11 million because of a lower tax rate, and the state provided about $23 million more than the prior year, accounting for the net revenue increase. The district's general fund balance rose from about $63.6 million to $65.2 million.

Peterson also highlighted other funds: the debt service fund received about $44.8 million in revenue and had $41 million in principal and interest payments, yielding an increase in its fund balance to about $20.5 million; the capital projects fund reported $13.9 million in interest earnings on unspent bond proceeds, capital outlays of about $81.2 million (including work on West Fork High School, Porter Elementary, Highlands Elementary, athletic-field improvements and the CTE building), and a capital projects fund balance that rose from approximately $224 million to $358 million after bond issuances.

Peterson said the unassigned general fund balance equaled roughly 75 days of operations, exceeding the Texas Education Agency's guideline of about 60 days. He urged continued vigilance on IT security and staying current with new government accounting standards as routine points of emphasis.

After the presentation, the board moved to approve the annual financial report. The motion was made by Trustee Trout and seconded by Trustee Harrell. Board members voted in favor; one member said "abstain" during the roll call and the motion carried.

The auditors' communications to governance, as relayed by Peterson, included that management provided required representations, the auditors remained independent throughout the engagement, and there were no corrected or uncorrected misstatements requiring disclosure.

The approval of the report concludes the district's formal acceptance of the audited financial statements for 2023'24; no additional audit-related actions were recorded on the public record during the meeting.