Northbrook SD 28 gets clean audit as fund balance drops about $4.8 million
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Summary
Auditors issued an unmodified opinion for Northbrook SD 28 but reported a roughly $4.8 million decline across funds and flagged management-letter items including IT security and a missing check write-off policy; the board was told budget discussions will address the shortfall.
The District 28 Board of Education received a clean audit and a warning about declining reserves at its February meeting.
"We gave the district an unmodified opinion," said Matt Baron, partner at Lauterbach and Amman, as he presented the annual financial statement audit and management letter. He told the board the firm issued the highest opinion it offers and found no internal control deficiencies.
Baron walked members through key figures in the audit: combined fund balances of about $20,300,000 and a general fund total shown in the report. He told the board the district recorded an approximate $4.8 million total decrease across funds this year—about $4.4 million in the general fund—driven in part by roughly $3.3 million more expenses than revenue and a $1.1 million capital transfer.
The management letter included four comments (three informational and one described as a best practice). Baron highlighted IT security as an area of increased risk for schools, noted the district lacks a formal check write-off policy (staff will receive templates and suggested procedures), and called attention to funds showing deficit balances as a timing issue the district expects to address next year.
Board members asked when the district would respond to the decline in fund balance and whether the board would see options to restore reserves. District staff said the matter will be included in the upcoming budget process cycle with proposals brought forward during regular budgeting discussions.
The board formally approved the annual financial report by the independent auditor later in the meeting without recorded opposition.
What’s next: staff said they will include options to address the fund-balance shortfall as part of the next budgeting cycle and report back to the board during budget deliberations.