Auditor gives Robbinsdale Schools a clean FY23 opinion but flags deadline, Title I control gaps

The Robbinsdale Public School District’s auditor told the school board on Oct. 7 that MMKR issued an unmodified, or "clean," opinion on the district’s fiscal year 2023 financial statements and a clean single-audit opinion on federal awards.

"Once again this year, we provided what is referred to as an unmodified or clean opinion," the auditor said in his presentation. He said the single-audit of federal awards — including child nutrition, Title I and COVID-related stabilization grants — was also fairly stated in relation to the financial statements.

At the same time, the auditor said the district did not meet state filing deadlines tied to audited fund balances and full financial statements. He told the board that audited data available by Nov. 30 required material adjustments and that the financial statements required completion by Dec. 31, per Minnesota guidance.

"The deadline for the financial statements ... was not met," the auditor said, and added that because the financial statement audit was delayed, the district missed the federal reporting deadline for submitting the schedule of expenditures of federal awards on time even though the single-audit opinion itself was clean.

Board members pressed for follow-up steps and whether the delays could affect credit ratings. The auditor said a rating call had been held and promised to share the rating results and the factors driving any change in the coming weeks.

The auditor also reported one internal-control deficiency discovered in Title I testing related to time-and-effort documentation for three employees; the work performed indicated no ineligible costs, but required improved documentation and review procedures. "For three of the individuals that we tested, that documentation was either incomplete or not reviewed and signed off on by the head of that program," he said.

Financial highlights the auditor presented included average daily membership (ADM) for FY23 of about 10,758 (down roughly 340 from the year before), general fund revenues just over $192 million, and general fund expenditures just over $198 million. The auditor noted fund-balance and timing items that drove year-over-year changes.

The board thanked the audit team and district finance staff and scheduled formal adoption of the FY23 audit for the Oct. 21 meeting.

Ending: The auditor left the board with action items: provide the board the rating-call results, and administration will supply follow-up documentation and corrective steps on the Title I time-and-effort controls ahead of the formal adoption of the audit on Oct. 21.