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Board approves Achievement & Integration plan, accepts federal audit and renews insurance plans
Summary
At its March 2 meeting the Richfield School Board approved the 2026-29 Achievement and Integration plan (state grant ~ $1,000,000/year), accepted the FY2025 federal single audit (clean opinion with a documented procurement finding), and renewed the district's group medical and dental contracts.
The Richfield School Board on March 2 approved a set of routine and financial items: the district's three-year Achievement and Integration plan for July 1, 2026'June 30, 2029; acceptance of the district's FY2025 federal single audit report; and renewal of employee group medical and dental coverage.
Achievement and Integration plan
Staff presented the Achievement and Integration plan that the state requires every three years and said the program supplies about $1,000,000 per year for initiatives to support racial and economic integration, student counseling, outreach workers and Native/Indigenous education. The board moved to accept the plan and the motion passed by voice vote. The plan will be submitted to the state as recommended.
Federal single audit: clean opinion, one significant deficiency
District finance staff briefed trustees on the FY2025 federal single audit. Auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion and reported that the schedule of federal expenditures is fairly stated. The auditors identified one significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance involving a local food-service vendor: the vendor's contract exceeded the micro-purchase threshold and district staff had not documented attempts to obtain two or more written quotations. Finance staff said they have since issued bids for FY26 and implemented monitoring and certification procedures to reduce the chance of recurrence. The board accepted the audit by roll-call vote (Tompkins, Dennis, Lewis, Spencer and the chair recorded as voting aye).
Insurance renewals and employee benefits
The District Insurance Advisory Committee recommended renewal with HealthPartners (third-party administrator) and Vital 1 (plan administrator) with a recommended 9.5% premium increase; staff said the increase aligns with broader market trends driven in part by pharmaceuticals and medical-cost inflation. The board approved the renewal. The board also renewed the district's group dental plan with Delta Dental and maintained current premium rates for 2026-27.
Other actions
- The board approved the consent agenda and accepted several donations totaling $470 to the Richfield High School Spartan Food Shelf (donors and amounts were read into the record).
- Policy updates and first/second reads (fund-reserve guidelines, staff use of facilities, and provision for alternative instruction) will return for further review; staff agreed to clarify cross-references between the staff-use guideline and community-use/leasing policies.
Quote
"Based on the district federal single audit for the year ended 06/30/2025, the auditors issued an unmodified or clean audit opinion," finance staff said while summarizing the report, adding that the procurement documentation finding has been addressed in subsequent bid work.
What happens next
Staff said procedures and quarterly monitoring have been implemented in Nutrition Services and Finance to better document procurements and to certify vendor debarment status; the board will receive updates as part of regular finance reporting. The board also noted the next meeting is March 16 (public-comment opportunity) and April 6 at 7 p.m.
Provenance: topicintro SEG 1483, topfinish SEG 1799.
