Independent auditors give Craven County Schools a clean opinion while flagging dropping enrollment and shrinking fund balance

Adam Sapirk, partner at the independent audit firm Anderson Smith Lake, told the Craven County Board of Education that the firm issued a clean, unmodified opinion on the district’s draft financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2025. "These financial statements accurately reflect the net position and the fund balance for Craven County Schools as of 06/30/2025. This is considered a clean, unmodified opinion," Sapirk said.

Sapirk said the audit is in draft form pending final federal compliance supplements and that any change is likely to be limited to the statement date rather than amounts. He highlighted a decline in average daily membership (ADM) to 11,838 — a decrease of about 540 students, or roughly 4.5% — and said that trend reduces state allotments tied to ADM and shifts pressure onto local funding.

The presentation identified the school's fund balances and cash positions as a near‑term budget risk: the general fund and other local current expense funds together represent the district’s local fund balance that the board has been using in this budget cycle, and Sapirk said available local fund balance to carry into 2026–27 will be small. He noted the district budget totals about $151 million in revenues and reported total expenditures of about $158 million for the fiscal year presented.

Sapirk emphasized compliance results: the audit firm found no questioned costs, no evidence of misspent federal or state program dollars, and no material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting. "We noted no internal control matters that we think are significant deficiencies or material weaknesses," he said. Board members used the presentation to press for clarity on drivers of rising local costs, citing state‑mandated salary increases and charter school payments that reduce locally available dollars.

Board member discussion ranged from the practicalities of staffing small schools to the county’s appropriation share of the budget. When one board member raised public rumors of misspending, Sapirk replied, "Correct," after the member asked, "This is a clean audit, and you saw absolutely no evidence of any misspent funds?" The board heard that child nutrition remains in a relatively positive cash position (reported cash on hand near $4.0 million) even as overall enrollment falls.

The board did not vote on the audit at the work session; Sapirk said the firm will finalize the statements after federal compliance supplements are issued and then provide final copies for submission to the Local Government Commission and federal agencies.