Schuylkill Valley board accepts clean audit, hears preliminary 2026-27 budget showing small deficit and approves new director

The Schuylkill Valley School Board on Oct. 27 accepted the district’s annual audit, heard a preliminary budget that shows a modest projected deficit for 2026-27, and unanimously approved a personnel appointment.

Nick Bieber, senior manager at Herbine and Company, told the board the auditors issued an unmodified opinion under generally accepted auditing standards — "This is a clean opinion from an independent auditor" — while noting the federal Uniform Guidance testing for federal programs could not be completed because the U.S. government had not issued the final compliance supplement. Bieber said the change had no effect on the auditor’s ability to issue the financial statements pending later completion of that testing.

The audit presentation showed the district’s general fund revenues were about $493,000 over budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year while expenditures ran roughly $2,265,000 over budget, producing a net decrease in fund balance of $1,752,000 to a year‑end general fund balance of $2,667,000. The…