HEMLOCK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT. STEP FOUR: BUDGETS & AUDITS
Dear readers, sometimes Lady Budgetdown opens an audit expecting a rabbit hole...
...and instead finds something rather refreshing:
A district with a healthy General Fund — and an audit trail that shows both the problem AND what was done about it. 🪶📜
Hemlock's General Fund strengthened considerably between 2022-23 and 2023-24:
💰 2022-23
• Revenue: $15.95 million
• Expenditures: $15.25 million
• Surplus: $693,631
• Ending fund balance: $5.25 million
💰 2023-24
• Revenue: $16.99 million
• Expenditures: $15.65 million
• Fund balance increased $1.37 million
• Ending fund balance: $6.62 million
But there was an important footnote.
The 2023-24 audit identified Finding 2024-001 — a significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting.
Auditors found several areas requiring adjustments, including bond proceeds, transfers, unearned revenue, accrued liabilities and expenditures. The district attributed the issue to turnover in the business office at year-end.
And here's the part Lady Budgetdown believes matters just as much as the finding:
Hemlock responded.
The district hired a new, experienced, full-time business manager to oversee financial reporting.
By 2024-25, Hemlock again received an unmodified audit opinion, maintained a positive General Fund balance, and the audit reported no instances of noncompliance required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.
That's called giving you the whole receipt. We don't hide an audit finding because it's inconvenient.
And we don't hide the corrective action or subsequent positive audit because that might be inconvenient either.
Accountability isn't about hunting for bad news.
It's about reporting what the records actually say, good, bad, and everything in between. 👑
Source: Hemlock Public School District Audited Financial Statements, FY 2022-23 through FY 2024-25.
With receipts and respect.
#LadyBudgetdown #HemlockPublicSchools #SchoolFinance #BudgetTransparency #PublicEducation #Accountability #WithReceiptsAndRespect