Paris Independent School District looks to be in good financial shape, if its annual audit is any indication.
Malory, McNeal and Co. gave PISD unqualified opinions on its financial statements, government auditing standards and major programs.
Johnna McNeal
“An unqualified opinion from an auditor is the best you can get,” Johnna McNeal, a certified public accountant, told the school board Monday.
Each year, the audit picks different federal programs to evaluate – aside from the programs of $300,000 or more that require review every three years.
PISD is a low-risk auditee, McNeal said. That means about 25 percent of programs have to be audited. A high-risk auditee requires 50 percent of them be reviewed.
Districts should have enough money on hand to cover two to three months of operating expenses, McNeal said. PISD had about $7.27 million when the fiscal year ended in June, up from the $6.4 million it had when the fiscal year ended last year. In the past, it has had much less. The 2008 fiscal year saw a fund balance as low as $2.42 million.
“Your fund balance right now is what I would consider pretty healthy,” she said. “It’s not too fat. It’s not too lean.”
McNeal said that while the district’s finances are healthy now, that is no guaranty of how things will look in the future. It’s hard to determine what the state Legislature will do with school funding in the next session.
“None of what I do involves any kind of crystal ball,” she said. “An audit is just a picture at a point in time.”
Jeff Parish Jeff Parish is a high school English teacher and journalist. He has worked for the Greenville Herald-Banner, Dallas Morning News, The Paris News and Galveston County Daily News, among others. For comments, feedback or suggestions, you can email him at jeff@eparistexas.com.
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