Orangeburg County School Board reviews clean audit, approves budget calendar and one-time spending including retention bonuses

The Orangeburg County School District Board of Trustees received an unmodified (clean) audit for fiscal year 2024 and approved the district's 2025'026 budget calendar and a one-time budget request at its Dec. 10, 2024 meeting.

Brian Nicholson, the engagement director for Mahlodin Jenkins, told the board the firm issued a clean opinion on the district's financial statements and reported no material weaknesses, significant deficiencies or instances of noncompliance in the audit or the single-audit testing of federal funds. "We did issue an unmodified or a clean opinion on the basis of financial statements," Nicholson said, adding the audit provided "reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement." He noted the district's general fund had an approximate $43.7 million fund balance and that unassigned fund balance exceeded the state's 8.3% requirement.

Finance staff reported November revenues of $9.6 million and expenditures of $10.7 million, a gap the presenters attributed in part to the timing of receipts; a $6.2 million payment received after Thanksgiving will appear in December figures. The board approved the proposed 2025'026 budget calendar, which lays out packet distribution Dec. 16, principal/administrator deadlines in January, a March 25 work session and a June 10 final budget reading and approval.

Separately, the board approved a one-time budget request that includes line items presented by staff: $2,300,000 for employee retention bonuses (proposed as $1,000 for full-time staff and $500 for part-time staff), $620,000 for document scanning and shredding, $100,000 for school transitions, $50,000 for district office technology, $200,000 for furniture replacement, $130,925 for vehicles, $40,000 for AEDs, $50,000 for security upgrades and $100,000 for a STEM lab. Superintendent Foster said the funds for the one-time package would be drawn from fund balance; the board discussed timing and presentation of budget details at future work sessions.

Board members questioned the level of detail provided in the packet and requested more line-item explanations at future work sessions. One trustee urged more involvement by the board in budget workshops so members could ask detailed questions and review school-level budgets in advance. Finance staff said school- and department-level budget breakdowns are included in the monthly packet and that the district posts expenditure information online.

The motion to approve the one-time budget request carried. Finance staff said, if approved, direct deposit of the retention payments was expected to begin as early as the following Friday.