Northeast Vernon County R-1 School District gets clean audit

By Johannes Brann

On the evening prior to the last day of the fall 2025 semester, the Northeast Vernon County (NEVC) R-1 School Board gave a cursory review of two possible calendars for the 2026-2027, a first reading of the 2026-2030 Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) and issued a reminder for school board candidates to file before the end of December. In the closed session the superintendent shared her self-evaluation for use by the board in their January evaluation of the superintendent.

After an opening prayer, standard practice dictates time allotted for citizen comments. Last month, the mother of a student addressed the board about the poor handling of incident with her child on the school bus; this matter was reviewed in some detail in closed session. The same person was asked by District Superintendent Christy Jones if she wanted to be placed on this month’s agenda, she declined.

On hand for the meeting were board members Heath Brown, David Bruce, Connie Gerster, Scott Pritchett and Deland Prough, along with Elementary Principal Eric Rhodes, Middle School/High School Principal Brad Clark and Superintendent Jones.

After the review of all bills, payments and salaries was completed and authorized by the board, the most important item of the meeting was then taken up: review of the independent audit of the district’s financial records for the 2024-2025 school year. Certified Public Accountant Ms. Renda Armstrong with DSWA Certified Public Accountants performed the audit and led its review.

Looking at what was termed “the big picture”, the district’s revenues totaled $3.48 million ($1.75 million from property taxes, $174,000 from railroad and other county business taxes, $1.18 million in state tuition payments and $380,000 in Federal aid [mostly reimbursement for early childhood and special education]).

Said Armstrong, “You began the fiscal year with fund balances totaling $1.65 million while you ended this past year with fund balances totaling $1.92 million for a net change of $272,804.”

A review of debt on the district’s books noted three finance leases and one project financed via certificates of participation. The first is a 2021 lease purchase for $184,000 in roof work; this will be paid off by June 30, 2026. The second is a half-million dollar 2022 heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) project which is due to be paid off in 2037. In Oct. 2024 the district entered into a finance lease to purchase a school bus; the $118,000 total is scheduled to be paid by 2030. In Nov. 2022, the board approved the issuance of $455,000 in Certificates of Participation for another HVAC project; these are scheduled to be fully repaid in 2030.

The audit noted three small deficiencies: segregation of duties, written risk assessments and that the posted quarterly financial reports on the district’s website are not searchable.

In a separate interview on Friday, Dec. 19, Jones commented, “Every year we get dinged on that first one because we can’t afford to have a large financial staff and separate every duty. The failure to have a written risk assessment is on me and something I will see is produced. And as to the website not being searchable well, that was news to me and so I’ll be contacting our computer folks to get that taken care of.”

She added, “Because the state is looking at a significant revision on its funding formula for schools, I am trying to keep a 45 percent financial reserve. I know that’s a high amount to hold in reserve but until we know our future funding situation – and that likely won’t be till next May – we must be conservative with every tax dollar with which we are entrusted.”

A review of next year’s school calendar and the CSIP plan will be covered as part of January’s meeting.