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External auditor gives Red Lake Public School District a clean opinion; board approves monthly bills
Summary
The districtauditor reported an "unmodified opinion" on the 2023-24 financial statements and highlighted a strong general-fund balance; the board approved December bills and accepted the audit after questions about vendor payments and bank reconciliation procedures.
The Red Lake Public School District accepted its 2023-24 financial audit and approved the district's December bills at its Jan. 22 board meeting.
"We have issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements," said Brady Martz, the district's external auditor, summarizing the audit. Martz told the board the audit produced a clean opinion, that the general fund held roughly $29.2 million in fund balance (about $24.8 million unassigned), and that the district's full-accrual net position rose by about $6.35 million.
Martz noted two internal-control findings: the auditors prepare the financial statements (a common practice that carries inherent risk) and material journal entries were needed to reconcile the bank at year-end. "Just make sure the bank reconciliation is done monthly and tied out as close to zero as possible," he advised.
Board members pressed staff on several large or recurring payments in the bills packet, and on numerous small purchases routed through Amazon. A board member said they had difficulty reaching the business manager, Willie, before the meeting; staff said Willie would follow up and that the transactions were processed through the district's authorization system.
The board moved to approve the bills and wires for December in the amount listed on the agenda. The motion carried; specific roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.
On federal funding, Martz highlighted the district's impact-aid receipts and the single-audit testing the firm performed on that program and an electric-bus rebate. "We did not have any findings related to those programs," he said.
The audit presentation concluded with a fraud-prevention recommendation: verify bank-routing changes by phone before updating EFT instructions, after several K-12 clients nationwide fell victim to phishing schemes.
The board voted to accept the auditor's report and closed the item with a reminder from staff that they would provide additional backup and follow-up on any questioned payments.
The board also heard a brief finance report earlier in the meeting showing ending fund balances and steady enrollment at about 1,565 students.
