Hopkins board accepts FY25 audit, hears repeated control findings; approves $7.7M in disbursements including $5.295M to SiteLogiq

The Hopkins School Board on June 23 accepted the district's fiscal year 2025 audit and approved $7,699,325.37 in disbursements for May, a register that included a $5,295,500 payment to SiteLogiq for planning and project management on multiple capital projects.

Auditor Andy Gryce of KDV told the board he was issuing "a clean unmodified opinion" for the year ended June 30, 2025, while also noting the district continued to see recurring findings from FY24 on procurement and internal controls. Gryce said one new item in the current report was a budget reporting deficiency tied to an excluded levy component and that state compliance work tied to an MDE-approved system remained incomplete for the period under audit.

"We are providing a clean unmodified opinion," Gryce said, while also flagging the need for tighter internal controls and process improvements to avoid repeat findings.

Treasurer Rachel Hartland highlighted the check register that accompanied the treasurer's report, saying the $5,295,500 SiteLogiq invoice was paid from Fund 6 (capital projects) and covered planning, civil management, permitting and testing across 16 major and 11 smaller projects. Hartland presented a motion to approve total disbursements of $7,699,325.37 for the May 1'31 period; the board approved the motion by voice vote.

Board members asked auditors and staff how the district planned to avoid repeat audit issues. When Director Shuming Zhao noted progress on timing compared with prior years, interim CFO Jessica Olson said the district was "doing work right now to do a lot of cleanup with account codes and just reconciling what we can before the year end" and that staff aimed to have FY26 materials ready in time to prevent future delays.

The board moved, seconded and voted to approve the FY25 audit by voice following the presentation. Chair Shannon Andresen thanked KDV and staff for completing the work.

Next steps identified by administration included continuing accounting cleanup work to address the budget-reporting deficiency, finalizing the single-audit components expected to be issued in July, and preparing materials for a timelier FY26 audit cycle.

Proper names and documents referenced at the meeting included the district's FY25 financial statements and the independent auditor's report from KDV. The treasurer offered to forward the detailed SiteLogiq invoice to any board member who requested it.

The meeting later moved on to a separate agenda item to present the proposed fiscal 2027 budget and held multiple board reports before adjourning at 8:47 p.m.