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Lincoln Way CHSD 210 gets a clean FY25 audit; ISBE financial-profile rating dips to "review" after bus purchases
Summary
Auditors issued a clean (unmodified) opinion on the district's FY25 financial statements, but the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) financial profile moved from "recognition" to "review" largely because bus purchases increased expenditures relative to how bond proceeds are counted.
Lincoln Way Community High School District 210 received a clean (unmodified) audit opinion for fiscal 2025, district and auditors said at the Nov. 20 board meeting, but the state's financial-profile metric moved the district one step lower to "review."
Katie Napier, partner in charge of the district audit for Wimmer Rogers (SEG 627), told the board the audit team issued a clean opinion on the modified-cash-basis financial statements and found no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies and no audit findings in the single-audit work on federal funds. The single audit was required because the district expended $2.4 million in federal funds; the IDEA cluster accounted for $1.8 million of that amount.
Napier and district staff described three management-comments: (1) a repeat finding on performing a physical inventory of capital assets; (2) budget-vs.-expenditure reporting that showed overspending in the life-safety and debt-service funds due to required accounting treatment of certain leases and debt; and (3) a one-day collateralization gap when a large property-tax transfer arrived at the bank at fiscal-year end. Auditors characterized these as suggestions for improvement rather than significant deficiencies.
Officials explained the ISBE financial-profile change to "review" was driven mainly by the expenditures-to-revenue ratio: the district chose to buy buses rather than lease them, and ISBE's template treats the bus purchase as an expenditure while excluding bond proceeds as direct revenue for that ratio, producing a lower score. District leadership said the purchase was a financially prudent choice that will save taxpayers money over leasing.
Key figures presented by auditors included an increase in total fund balance during FY25 of $34,100,000 and a general/educational account fund balance of about $31,000,000 as of June 30, 2025. Long-term debt outstanding was reported at approximately $227,000,000 as of June 30, 2025.
