Newark Unified presents clean audit; auditors flag one state reporting issue

The Newark Unified School District board voted on Feb. 3 to accept the district's fiscal year 2024-25 audit after the district's auditor delivered largely positive findings.

Jeff Jensen, the district's auditor, told the board the audit produced an unmodified opinion on the district's financial statements and an unmodified federal compliance opinion, meaning auditors found no material misstatements and no federal compliance findings. "The district received an unmodified opinion this year," Jensen said, adding that the district's financial statements "comply with all the applicable accounting pronouncements and are free of material misstatement." He also said the audit uncovered one state compliance finding related to home-to-school transportation reimbursement reporting, which the firm could not fully verify in the documentation; the auditor said the finding carries no fiscal impact.

Board members asked follow-up questions about internal controls and specific line items, including stipend overpayments and school-connected organizations. Jensen explained the audit's materiality approach and the scope of issues auditors report. He also noted that prior-year findings had been remediated: "There were eight findings in the prior year and all those findings have been properly implemented for this year's audit," he said.

After questions, the board moved to accept the audit report; the motion carried in a board vote. President Thomas thanked the auditing team and district staff for the work that led to an improved audit result compared with prior years.

What happens next: district staff told the board they will continue to monitor areas flagged during the audit and will share corrective steps where appropriate. The board discussion also touched on whether additional internal controls or district-level reviews (for example, around stipends and the role of booster organizations) would be warranted, and staff described ongoing steps to improve procurement and reporting systems.

By the numbers: Jensen told the board there were no internal control material weaknesses or significant deficiencies reported in this audit cycle and that federal compliance testing was unmodified. The single state compliance finding involved documentation associated with home-to-school transportation reporting.