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After years of questions from legislators & others about school district cash balances, Legislature required a state audit of school district cash balances #ksleg #ksed
The Legislative Post Audit was authorized Oct. 2019. A team of five state auditors tackled the subject #ksleg #ksed
Audit analyzed cash balance data from all 286 districts & reviewed in-depth a cross-section of 25 districts. Results were released yesterday. Here is what audit found: #ksleg #ksed
After adjusting for inflation, districts’ unencumbered cash balances increased 35% over 10 years (2009-19) #ksleg #ksed
Why the increase? Auditors found most of increase used to pay off bonds approved by local voters to finance school construction projects. Also, during that period, construction costs increased 32%. Also in 2015, Legislature reduced bond and interest aid to districts #ksleg #ksed
Another significant increase in unencumbered balances was contingency reserve fund. District leaders told auditors they increased those after ’09 recession to manage funding cuts & have funds if state delay school payments (state has done that)
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Auditors found wide variances in districts’ balances, attributed to risk perceived by that district. Auditors found nothing inappropriate, noting best practices recommends cash balances should be adjusted based on unique financial situation of individual districts #ksleg #ksed
After years of criticism about school district balances, audit looked into issue and made no recommendations. Here is a link to audit https://www.kslpa.org/audit-report-library/evaluating-school-districts-unencumbered-cash-balances/ #ksleg #ksed
