Harlan Kirgan
The St. Landry Parish School Board has total revenues of $152.6 million, but it is the $4.4 million in school activity funds that captured the attention of Board members in a recently released audit.
The 37 funds in the audit that ended June 30, 2019, ranged from a balance of $1,009 at the Center for Academic Programs in Opelousas to $369,933 at Northwest High School.
The funds had total receipts of $4,415,825 and disbursements of $4,378,799.
The activity funds are among five finds in the audit by Kolder, Slaven & Company LLC.
Auditor Casey Ardoin said the audit found inadequate oversight over the school activity funds that are generated from everything from athletic ticket sales to supply fees to fundraisers.
Ardoin said none of the findings have a material impact in the audit.
“It is really a good audit,” he said at a meeting Thursday in Opelousas. “It really was. There is enough staff and enough qualified staff here in the district especially in the finance office.”
Tressa Miller, school system finance director, said the district has been conducting audits on the activity funds in rotation to cover every school in three years.
Audits will now occur at each school every year, she said.
Ardoin said it takes about a day to audit the school activity funds.
In the audit approved by the Board at Thursday’s meeting, the annual activity fund audit was part of the approval.
Eunice Board member Albert Hayes Jr., a longtime critic of activity fees for items such as paper and pencils,asked, “Why don’t we just eliminate activity fees for all schools in our district?”
Hayes said he does not include athletic fees such as tickets to games in his request.
Board member Josh Boudreaux said, “I respect your opinion, but I think almost $5 million is a lot of money.”
Board member Denise Rose said she hears complaints about the ticket prices that cost families $50 to $60 a game.
Superintendent Patrick Jenkins said high balances at some schools are often the result of the school saving for an expense. Cankton Elementary, he said, once saved about $100,000 for a playground. And, high schools can accumulate money for athletic equipment purchases, he said.
Overall, Ardoin said the audit shows the school system’s finances are in good shape.
In a standard for the percentage of unassigned revenues, 7.5% is considered excellent, he said. The St. Landry Parish school system had 10% of revenues unassigned.
Revenues of $152.6 million were up $9.4 million from the previous year. The increase was mostly from $6.7 million in grant money to fund the Head Start program, he said.
The district had budget a loss for the year, but Ardoin said the surplus for all funds was $1,053,000.
Total expenses are listed at $151,577,765 and revenue was $152,631,146.
The total beginning balance was $25,409,661 and the ending balance was $26,463,042.
The general fund had a beginning balance of $18,584,687 and an ending balance of $21,470,097, a difference of $2,885,410.