By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich-By a 7-0 vote on Monday night the school board of trustees accepted an audit from Lewis & Knopf for the 2019-120 fiscal year ending June 30. The audit was presented by Ken Rappuhn senior staff accountant and 2012 Goodrich High School graduate.
The district ended the 2019-20 fiscal year with a general fund balance of 13 percent or $2,593,476.
“This is a very healthy fund balance for the district,” said Rappuhn. “The state average is about 15 percent, so you are right in the ballpark and districts about the same size as Goodrich. When you start getting above 20 percent (fund balance) is when should start spending down the fund balance so the money is being used for instruction for the students.”
The district added to the fund balance by $32,043 the sixth consecutive year of increases to the schools coffers. The district fund balance has rallied from a low of $1,336,529 in the 2013-14 school year.

“The district received a ‘Clean Unmodified’ audit opinion, the highest level of assurance possible for the district’s financial’,” said Rappuhn. “What this means is the financial statements prepared by the district are very representative of the year.”
The hike in fund balance is critical for school districts like Goodrich following the adoption of Public Act 109 signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 as part of the state’s early warning legislation. The act amends the Revised School Code to require any district without a positive general fund balance of at least 5 percent for the two most recent school fiscal years to report annually by July 7 of each year the budgetary assumptions used when adopting its annual budget to the Center for Educational Performance and Information. Based on the report, the state treasurer may determine if the potential for fiscal stress exists within the district.
The 2019-20 general fund revenues for the district were $20,581,628 up from $20,142,844 in the 2018-19 fiscal year an increase of $438,784. The 2019-20 general fund expenditures increased to $20,549,585 up from 19,876,909 in the 2019-18 fiscal year an increase of $672,676. According to the audit, 63 percent of all expenditures are spent on instruction of the students. The state average is about 65 percent. About 36 is support services. A total of 44 percent of the districts funds are spent on salaries with 29 percent on benefits for a total of 73 percent. The state average is 80 to 90 percent for payroll.
“We are lower (in Goodrich) because more purchases services,” he said. “Still in the ballpark with the state averages.”
Student count dipped slightly in 2019-20 to 2,115 down from 2,133 in the 2018-2019 school year.
The board of trustees had revenues budgeted of $20.91 million and actual was $20.58 million a variance of $329,000 under budget. Similarly, the board budgeted expenditures of $20.75 million and actual was $20.55 million a variance of $197,000 under budget.