The district's independent auditor told the East Grand Forks Public School District board that auditors had issued an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements and found no reportable compliance findings.

"We've issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements," the auditor said, summarizing the audit and adding that management is responsible for the numbers in the statements and footnotes.

The auditor walked the board through key pages of the report. The district's net position was described as "a little bit over $19,000,000," a figure that includes fixed assets, depreciation and net pension liability. The governmental funds schedule showed a general fund balance of $4,418,342 and an unassigned portion of approximately $3,000,001.22.

The auditor noted the district's unassigned general fund balance as a share of general fund expenditures was 10.65% for the current year, down from 14.64% the prior year. "We like to see districts stay above 10% for sure," the auditor said, while noting that larger districts often operate with lower percentages because of scale.

The audit also highlighted a year-over-year change in fund levels: the general fund was down about $425,145, debt service increased about $104,388, and nonmajor funds (food service, community service, building) increased roughly $251,740, leaving the district down about $69,000 overall on fund levels.

Among flagged program balances, the auditor said the school-readiness fund is running a deficit of about $592,000; the presenter recommended addressing that deficit over time and suggested budgeting some general-fund transfers to reduce it gradually because program rules limit moving certain dollars from other funds.

The auditor reviewed compliance testing under Minnesota audit requirements and government auditing standards and reported no findings. The district also underwent a single-audit review of federal programs; the child-nutrition cluster testing produced a clean opinion.

Board members asked no substantive follow-up questions during the presentation and the auditor said he would be available for additional meetings if members had questions later.

What happens next: the audit's completion triggers work on a revised budget; district staff said Carla will lead the budget revision and return to the board with recommended adjustments.