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Auditor: Newburg R-II shows improved reserves, but enrollment decline could affect funding
Summary
At its December meeting the Newburg R-II School Board heard a 2024 audit from Ken Schultz; he reported a clean opinion, $6,092,000 in receipts for 2024 and a $481,009.90 fund balance, and warned that falling enrollment may reduce state funding going forward.
At its December meeting the Newburg R-II School Board heard a presentation from Ken Schultz, who said the district’s independent audit produced a clean opinion and that ‘‘your financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with the cash basis’’ of accounting.
Schultz told the board the district reported total receipts of $6,092,000 in 2024 and a fund balance of $481,009.90 — ‘‘the highest it’s been in years,’’ he said. He highlighted capital-project spending that produced excess expenditures of roughly $350,000 in 2024 and noted scheduled long-term debt payments of about $140,000–$150,000 annually through 2040.
‘‘That’s the goal, and you have achieved that. So congratulations,’’ Schultz said, summarizing the auditor’s overall finding that the district’s cash-basis statements present fairly.
Schultz also walked the board through the report’s debt and pension notes. He pointed to the legal debt margin shown in the audit and said the district would have roughly $3.31 million of available general obligation borrowing capacity as of June 30, 2024, if voters authorized additional debt. On pensions, he described a sensitivity analysis that shows the district’s reported liabilities can swing materially with a 1 percentage-point change in assumed investment returns.
Board members and administrators discussed enrollment figures during the presentation. Schultz cited an average daily attendance (ADA) of 333 with a resident count of 354 in September and noted rural districts have seen 10–20% declines in enrollment over a 10‑year span. He warned that lower enrollment reduces state funding under the basic formula and urged caution in reserve planning.
On operating reserves, Schultz said a commonly cited healthy target is about 16–17% (roughly six weeks of cash), but argued rural cash-flow variability favors maintaining about three months of reserves. He flagged that unusually low operating ratios can invite state scrutiny.
The board accepted Schultz’s presentation and later voted to approve the audit as presented (see “Votes at a glance”). The auditor closed by wishing the board well for the holidays and the meeting returned to administrative reports.
