By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich — On Sept 27, the board of trustees of Goodrich Area Schools accepted an audit from Flint based-Lewis & Knopf for the 2022-2023 fiscal year ending June 30.
The audit was presented by Allen Gamble.
The district ended the fiscal year with a general fund balance of $4,580,989 (19%) up from 16% or $3,579,371 in the 2021-22 year.
The spike in 2023 was due to the COVID funding and Elementary and the Secondary School Emergency Relief fund (ESSER).
“In addition to ESSER, the district also qualified for ESSER Equity funds totaling $1.3 million,” said Cristal Rousseau, Director of Business Services “This money is to be used to address learning loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The receipt of these funds in addition to ESSER resulted in substantial increase in our fund balance. Both of these are one-time federal funds and must be spent by September 2024.”
The state average for general fund balance is about 15-20 percent, a range for districts about the same size as Goodrich, about two to three months of expenditures.
The district fund balance increased by $1,001,618, representing a hike in five of the last six years. The district fund balance has rallied from a low of $1,336,529 in the 2013-14 school year.
“The district did receive a ‘Clean Unmodified’ audit opinion,” said Gamble.
“No findings or issues were noted (from the audit). The district did a fabulous job.”
The 2022-23 general fund revenues for the district were $25,121,782 up from $22,152,106 the 2021-22 fiscal year.
The 202-23 general fund expenditures for the district increased to $24,120,164 up from $22,354,191.
According to the audit, 62% of all expenditures are spent on instruction of the students. The state average is about 65%. About 37% are support services. A total of 39% of the district’s funds are spent on salaries with 33% on benefits for a total of 72%. The state average is 80 to 90% for payroll.
Student count jumped slightly to 1,998, halting a four year slide since 2019. The highest student enrollment since 2016 was 2,144 in 2018.
The board of trustees had revenues budgeted of $26.03 million and actual was $25.12 million a variance of $908,000 under budget. Similarly, the board budgeted expenditures of $25.19 million and actual was $24.12 million a variance of $446,000 under budget.