Audit results for the July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 fiscal year are in for the Lake Orion School District and it’s good news.
The report was given by Donna Hanson, Partner for Plante & Moran at the Oct. 22, school district board meeting. Hanson said the audit field work was done during one week in June, 2008 and two weeks in August, 2008.
‘We assessed the district’s internal control systems and there were no deficiencies that we were required to report,? said Hanson. ‘The district keeps the books and records in good shape.?
Hanson said because of the Enron catastrophe in 2001, new auditing standards have gone into effect this year that has lowered the threshold. She said the new rules are essentially a trickle-down effect for the public and private sector and has changed how audits are performed. ‘These standards govern all audits, not just schools. It is any private company and is an across the board change in auditing,? said Hanson. ‘Even with the new standards, the district came out with no deficiencies.?
The key issue, Hanson said, is that school districts need to understand that what they have been experiencing in the past few years will continue. ‘The expenditures of a school district are increasing at a much greater rate than the revenues they are receiving from the state and it is not expected to change, unfortunately,? said Hanson.
Jillynn Keppler, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services said the LO district will receive $8,302 per student this year. ‘That equates to a total budget revenue of 66.9 million dollars for the 2008 and 2009 school year,? said Keppler.
Keppler said the district will receive eleven payments starting on Oct. 20 and ending on August 20. However since it is an election year, Keppler said it is possible new government officials may decide the $8,302 per student is too much money. ‘If the new officials feel they cannot balance the state budget, they may change the state aid per pupil. We may be asked to give money back to the state retroactively,? said Keppler. ‘That happened in 2004.?
Since the LO district didn’t have to borrow money from the state like many