On Wednesday, Pennsylvania’s Auditor General released a performance audit report concerning the use of General Fund Balances among 12 selected school districts out of Pennsylvania’s approximately 500 districts. Abington School District was among a handful of school districts in the Greater Philadelphia region to be included in the Department of the Auditor General’s audit.
It is important to note: ALL 12 districts audited by the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General–including Abington–were found to be in compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the regulations and requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
We are disappointed in the Auditor General’s mischaracterization of our practices as non-transparent with regard to the preparation of our annual General Fund Budgets, as we typically exceed the number of public budget meetings and board actions that are required by The 2006 Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act, known as Act 1 of 2006.
- For reference, the current 2023-2024 year budget meeting schedule was provided in a Board orientation, presented at the December 13, 2022 public meeting, and is available on the Abington School District website. This practice of presenting the budget preparation timeline and posting the schedule on the school district website is a long-standing practice of the school district, although it is not a requirement.
- In addition to being available under the Business Office section of the Abington School District website, all budget presentations and Pennsylvania Department of Education General Fund Budget reports are posted and archived on the BoardDocs management system. The reporting of funds related to Capital Projects is also transparent, as they are reflected in the Board-approved Monthly Financial Reports, which are public meeting agenda items. The Auditor General’s assertion of a lack of transparency is not reflected in Abington School District’s actual budget process.
The Auditor General’s report does accurately reflect that Abington School District did not violate any laws. In addition, it accurately reflects that in the four years evaluated by the audit—the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2020-2021 school years—Abington School District did not raise taxes aside from 2017-2018, the year we obtained financing to fund the additions and renovations to Abington Senior High School.
Further, we take pride in the fact that the Auditor General found that we use “conservative budgeting practices” in our estimates, as the budget cycle is a six-month long process during which many factors might change. On the heels of an unexpected global pandemic, it is evident how drastically and quickly a school district’s financial needs could evolve.
Our careful and strategic budget planning has served the District well over the years in maintaining strong credit ratings that allowed us to receive lower interest rates for borrowing for capital projects like the Abington Senior High School Additions and Renovations Project, and similar large-scale facilities needs. Additionally, Abington Township and the Borough of Rockledge residents have experienced among the lowest tax increases over this same time period in the county.
Whether state lawmakers should change the laws and regulations surrounding school districts’ budgeting processes is a matter of debate; regardless of what legislators decide, Abington School District will continue to adhere to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s laws governing budgeting practices to ensure the best possible outcomes for the more than 8,500 students in our schools.
For your convenience, I have linked the Auditor General’s Report. My detailed response to the Auditor General can be found on pages 22-24. In addition, please see the following response from the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO). Also, please see PASBO’s FAQs on Fund Balance.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey S. Fecher, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Christopher A. Lionetti
Chief Financial Officer
The post Response to Auditor General’s Report first appeared on Abington School District.