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Auditor gives St. Martin Parish Schools an unmodified opinion; report discloses federal-compliance finding and ongoing restitution effort
Summary
The district received a clean (unmodified) audit opinion, auditors reported a 5.4% deviation triggering a Louisiana Budget Act finding, identified a federal prepayment finding tied to one transaction in 29 tested related to an MSAP invoicing practice, and noted ongoing restitution efforts for a misappropriation dating to June 2016.
Mister Shobhan, the auditor presenting the district's audit report, told the St. Martin Parish Schools Board that the independent auditors had issued a "clean or unmodified audit opinion" on the district's financial statements.
Shobhan said the auditors included several findings. The first was noncompliance with the Louisiana Budget Act: for audit purposes the district showed a 5.4% deviation in certain special-revenue funds, which meets the act's threshold for a finding. "Instead of reading that, you must project or you must budget your revenues and expenditures each year. If your revenues are short by 5% or more, it's considered a finding," the auditor said.
The report also contained two related findings, at the state and federal level, tied to a single transaction: a check was written for services that covered work already performed and work to be performed through September 2024. The auditor said that "you can't prepay for those services" under the state and federal rules governing the programs; the issue affected one of 29 transactions tested in that area.
Another finding concerned a long-running misappropriation dating to June 2016. The auditor reported that board legal counsel had pursued collection actions and that garnishments of wages and other income sources began in September 2024; the auditor said management will continue to monitor restitution collection.
On the financial picture, the audit showed an improvement in net position year over year. The auditor reported that net position improved by about $1,100,000 compared with the prior year and that the district's general-fund balance represents about 4.8 months of operating expenditures. The auditors also highlighted that instruction accounted for 51.7% of expenditures.
Board members and finance staff discussed the findings and corrective steps. Casey, a district finance official who spoke during the discussion, said the MSAP (Magnet Schools Assistance Program) transaction was new to the district's processes and that the contractor's invoicing method contributed to the prepayment finding; she said the district will change the invoicing approach going forward.
The transcript records a motion and a later notation that a motion passed after the audit presentation, but the mover, second and a roll-call vote tally for board acceptance of the audit report are not specified in the provided excerpts.
