Brownfield ISD Board of Trustees heard from the outside auditor Monday night, Jan. 22, 2024, about its finances for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, and there was a bit of a hiccup that occurred with the final audit. Every year, all public schools in Texas are required to have an outside audit to make sure everything is in compliance with the Texas Education Agency and also to make sure there is no mishandling and malpractice from the district.
After the invocation, pledges, and recognitions, the Board heard from outside auditor Kacey Gast with Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss accounting firm. Gast introduced herself to the Board and began her commentary on the finished outside audit. “We came out to do the audit and on the very first day, we realized the banks (accounts) have not been reconciled since last December (December 2022). I don’t think this was a surprise you… I think its been communicated to you. So when we talked with Mr. Smith (Superintendent of BISD) and told him what was going on, it was decided to they’d get help and get in… and get everything, you know get all the banks back to reconciled so we could come audit.” said Gast.
Gast went on to say, “Obviously if things aren’t reconciled, we cant audit because cash touches everything. So once that occured we were able to come in and finish the audit. The district (BISD) did receive an unmodified opinion or a “clean audit” opinion, which is the best one you can get, but we do have material weakness around your bank reconciliation and bank processes.”
According to Gast, the recommendation for BISD is the District will implement procedures to ensure the bank reconciliations are accurately prepared monthly and reviewed by an independent individual outside of the bank reconciliation preparation process. Also, Smith is the responsible party for the “Corrective Action Plan” in which the bank reconciliation procedures will be performed and approved by management on a monthly basis within the month following the statement period. Smith has already taken significant steps towards this improvement by working closely with the outside consultant.
Gast did tell the board the reconciliation issue will affect the TEA Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) rating. This rating ensures that Texas public schools are held accountable for the quality of their financial management practices and that they improve these practices. The system is designed to encourage Texas public schools to better manage their financial resources to provide the maximum allocation possible for direct instructional purposes. BISD earned an “A” on last years rating. However, according to Gast, the highest that BISD can make on the next FIRST rating will be a “79 with the material weakness”.
Gast moved on and summarized the audit by showing that the net position of BISD increased by $1,067,337 for the year ended August 31, 2023. This increase is attributable to increases in property values and sale of property. The BISD’s statement of activities showed total revenues were $29,909,897 and total expenses were $28,842,560. BISD ended the year, August 31, 2023, with total net position of $7,168,889 and unrestricted (deficit) of ($4,469,470). The balance of cash and investments at August 31, 2023 was $9,938,378, which does not include the fiduciary cash account since these funds are not for District purposes.
Total general fund expenditures were $21,274,361 for the year ended August 31, 2023, which is an increase of $3,541,864 from general fund expenditures of $17,732,497 for the year ended August 31, 2022. This increase is attributable to a portion of payroll being paid with ESSER funds in the prior year. The District’s total revenues on the fund financial statements increased $640,536 from $29,757,984 in 2021-22 to $30,398,520 in 2022-23 and is attributable to increases in property values.
Smith said in response to the bank reconciliation error, “We experienced some turnover that led to accounting practice errors. We have corrected all of those elements. Our finances remained stable and at no time was there unaccounted for funds.” The Board unanimously approved the outside audit.
Next the Board reviewed the enrollment for BISD. As of Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, BISD had an enrollment of 1667. There are a total of 141 students at Colonial Heights, 673 students at Oak Grove, 353 students at middle school, 36 students at BEC, and 464 students at the high school. BISD is down by one student this time last year.
Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Brantley spoke on behalf of the athletic department. He tols the Board that they have begun a new off season program. “It’s a little bit new, but the kid are buying in… the attendance has been pretty good, we’ve had an 80% attendance so far. Thats been great… something we are trying to implement and get a little more buy in for.” said Brantley. He also stated that they began “character classes” on fridays, and the past class they talked about commitment. Brantley went on to say, “This gives our coaches some time to talk to the kids and give them a little bit of insight into their lives… to be able to relate to them on a more personal level, so that we can have a little bit more camaraderie going into the summer and going into the next season.”
Brantley went on to give an update on the athletic dept. He spoke how well the power lifting teams are doing, both girls and boys. He updated the Board on how the basketball teams are doing. Brantley also gave the news that Brownfield will host the Regional Powerlifting Meet here in Brownfield, which will be held March 7-9, 2024.
Smith then went on to talk about the drone program. Smith told the board that BISD wrote and recieved a LEDA grant, which is a Lubbock Economic Development grants for agriculture drones. “Today BIDCorp (Brownfield Industrial Development Corporation) voted to match that grant, so we are actually going to get two agriculture drones.” said Smith.
The Board then moved to approve $46,800.00 for more security cameras, $210,264.00 for the window project at the middle school, and $248,971.00 for the fencing around Colonial Heights and Oak Grove. Also BISD resubmitted paperwork for a safety grant which they were awarded around $900K which up it to about $1.2 million.
The final items of business was to call an election for two at-large seats and called for a special election for District 1. This will be the fourth cycle of elections for District 1. BISD also approved the elections contract with the Terry County Joint Elections Office.
