“We have a lot going on, and to have a really detailed review of our financials and to have a confirmation of everything in order is excellent news,” district Chief Financial Officer Eva Lueck said.
School districts are required to submit their books each year to outside accounting. Shari Prosser, the outside accountant hired for the audit, said Glendale Unified had made the difficult choices to prepare for the drop off in funding.
Auditors can not formally support or endorse district decisions, but they can characterize their findings.
“The district received an unqualified opinion, and it’s meeting its state-recommended reserves,” Prosser said. “Those are two very big positive things.”
The audit also found the district does not have all of its teachers properly certified. Teachers who have more than 20% of their students learning English must have the proper diversity certification.
The issue has been a snag in Glendale Unified audits for years.
Still, board members said they were pleased with the audit’s overall findings.
“I was glad to turn to those important pages and see things as an auditee we qualified as a low risk,” school board member Joylene Wagner said.
And despite the fact that Glendale Unified spends 91% of its general fund budget on employee salaries and benefits — more than the 80% most other districts spend — Prosser said the audit found that administrators had satisfactorily balanced income and expenses.
The district’s long-term debt obligations were also decreasing despite rising benefit costs, she said.
“The district is not doing any deficit spending, which means you’re trying really hard to make that budget crisis work,” Prosser said.
But school board members and administrators have continually pointed to 2011 and beyond as years in which the district may face insolvency if expenses aren’t tempered.
“I would prefer to reduce benefits than reduce the number of employees,” board President Mary Boger said after.
The audit also noted a continued declining enrollment.
In 2006-07, Glendale Unified had 26,394 students, but that dropped to 25,765 last school year, another funding constraint for the district. In 2008-09, 64% of district funds came from attendance, officials said.
“This creates a budgeting challenge,” Prosser said. “You have to find a way to keep same number of classrooms open, but have a smaller funding base.”
Get in touch MAX ZIMBERT covers education. He may be reached at (818) 637-3215 or by e-mail at max.zimbert@latimes.com.
