SOMETIMES THE RABBIT HOLE ENDS WITH… NOTHING ON FIRE

[Shadowninja]

I went back through the available audits and financial records for Bridgeport-Spaulding Community School District, looking for the usual things: recurring deficits, disappearing fund balance, audit findings, budget problems, or something that deserved a deeper dive.

Here's what the ledger says.

In 2021–22, the General Fund finished with roughly $20.27 million in revenue, $19.13 million in expenditures, and about a $1.14 million surplus.

By 2022–23, revenue had climbed to $24.18 million and expenditures to $23.06 million. After transfers and other financing, the district still added approximately $995,575 to its fund balance.

That pushed the General Fund balance from about $4.77 million to $5.76 million — roughly 25% of annual expenditures.

There was one large budget variance worth noticing: the district budgeted about $10.65 million in federal revenue but actually received about $6.35 million. But expenditures also came in roughly $5.28 million below budget, and the district ultimately finished the year better than projected.
 
Then comes 2023–24.

The district's broken transparency links prevent me from verifying the complete General Fund statement for that year from the full audit. I'm not going to fill that hole with a guess.

What I can verify is that the 2023–24 Single Audit reported no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies, no material noncompliance, and no federal award findings or questioned costs. 

So does Bridgeport-Spaulding have an audit scandal hiding in these records?

Not that I can find.

There were older audit problems before this period — including a $201,088 year-end accounting adjustment and budget-overage findings — but the auditors reported those issues as corrected, and I do not see them recurring in the following audits. 

There is one number I'd keep an eye on going forward: federal pandemic funding.

A significant amount of federal money flowed through the district during these years. The real financial test may be what happens to spending and that roughly $5.8 million reserve after ESSER and other temporary federal dollars disappear.

But for now?

The ledger says what it says.

Sometimes following the receipts leads to a problem.

Sometimes it leads to a perfectly reasonable explanation.

And sometimes Lady Budgetdown gets to close the rabbit hole.

With receipts and respect.

#LadyBudgetdown #BridgeportSpaulding #SchoolFinance #PublicSchools #Transparency #FollowTheMoney #WithReceiptsAndRespect