Muscogee County school board receives clean audit, approves $401M general fund report

Janice Bloodworth, the districts chief financial officer, told the board on Dec. 15 that the district posted $401,000,000 in general-fund revenue and $381,000,000 in expenses for fiscal 2025, producing a net increase in fund balance of $11,600,000 and an ending fund balance of $104,000,000, which she said equates to about 95 days of reserves. "The state sources are our largest revenue source at 48%, followed by our property taxes at 27%," Bloodworth said, and she added that the district spent about 57% of districtwide expenditures on instruction, pupil support and media.

Bloodworth detailed year-over-year changes she said drove the results, including a $30,000,000 increase in state revenue tied to equalization funding, a $35,000,000 increase in salaries and benefits, a $9,000,000 rise in outsourced services and a $1,400,000 increase in electricity costs. She told the board some federal programs that previously funded one-time expenditures (for example, classroom cameras purchased with ESSER funds) have ended and staff would provide follow-up information about any staffing changes or program impacts.

Brian Rutledge of Robinson Grimes and Company, the districts auditors, presented the audit portion of the annual comprehensive financial report and said the firm issued a clean (unmodified) opinion on the financial statements and found no material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting. "We concluded administrative controls are in place to ensure the proper management of the sales-tax proceeds," Rutledge said, and he reported no reportable findings in the separate performance audit required for sales-tax proceeds.

During board questions, members asked whether the $104 million fund balance aggregated separate funds such as the library and nutrition funds; Bloodworth said those smaller funds are separate from the general-fund total. On the $46,000,000 reduction in federal/state program revenue compared with the prior year, staff said some federal monies were one-time and that programming was not broadly cut but that some expenses that had been covered by ESSER will need alternate funding sources; Bloodworth said the district would provide details on any staff positions affected.

The board approved the annual comprehensive financial report on a motion by Mister Cantrell and a second by Miss Chambers. The auditors report and the annual comprehensive financial report will be published with the board materials and available through district channels.