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District auditors report unmodified opinion; finance lead says $32M fund balance with $5.3M available
Summary
PKF auditors reported an unmodified opinion with no findings on the Morris School District's financial statements and grants; auditors highlighted a June 30, 2025 budgetary fund balance near $32 million but noted only about $5.3 million was available after restrictions and cited rising costs for health benefits and transportation.
PKF auditors Rob Provos and Sarah Kim told the Morris School District board that this year’s audit produced an unmodified opinion and no audit findings for both the district’s financial statements and its federal and state grants.
In the audit highlights, the auditors said the district’s June 30, 2025 budgetary fund balance was approximately $32 million, but much of that is restricted: the auditors reported about $5.3 million available for general use after accounting for capital reserves, maintenance reserves and funds dedicated to future budgets.
Rob Provos called attention to cost pressures that contributed to the year-over-year decline in the available fund balance. He said health-benefit costs increased "just over a million dollars" and transportation costs rose by about $1.2 million. The auditors also noted the enterprise funds showed small declines: food-service net position decreased from 1,550 to 1,371 (figures reported by the presenter as stated) and the community-school program fell from roughly 950,000 to about 750,000.
The auditors described the district’s internal controls as strong and praised the finance team by name; the audit opinion was unmodified for both the general financial statements and grant compliance testing.
What the numbers mean: An unmodified (clean) audit opinion indicates auditors did not identify reportable deficiencies in the audited areas. The reported $32 million fund-balance figure includes restricted amounts; administrators cautioned that the approximately $5.3 million available is the more relevant figure for near-term spending decisions.
Next steps and context: Auditors opened the floor for questions; no substantive follow-up was recorded in the meeting transcript. District staff and trustees acknowledged rising cost pressures that many districts face, including health-benefit rate increases and transportation inflation.
The board took no separate, immediate fiscal action during the meeting beyond accepting the audit report and proceeding with the agenda.
