Excellent Audit Results
by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board meeting on September 20 began with one Jamie Cote, CPA, from the Bonadio Group accounting firm. Mr. Cote trotted out the full arsenal of accounting superlatives to describe the outstanding performance of the Hoosick Falls School District on the annual audit of its finances that his firm has just completed. He said the audit concluded with an “unmodified opinion” from his firm, which he said is “the highest assurance we can give” that the District’s finances are being properly handled and soundly managed. His firm found “no material weaknesses,” no deficiencies, and no non-compliance in its examination of the District’s accounts and procedures for handling its financial affairs. Despite the limited vocabulary utilized by accountants, Cote managed to get across the idea that the Hoosick Falls School District has a superb financial team in place, and that they are handling the District’s financial affairs with exemplary rigor.
Business Administrator Emily Sanders also said that an audit by the State Comptroller is expected to begin shortly, though she has not been told yet exactly when. These audits by the Comptroller’s office are done about once every five years.
Lunch Program
Superintendent Ken Facin said at the close of the previous fiscal year, the District wrote off $32,000 of money owed to the District for lunches as uncollectible. He said the District’s ability to collect those funds is limited by laws restricting its collection options.
Although the Cafeteria account has a surplus, the District is not allowed to use that surplus to cover the uncollected funds. The unpaid funds must be paid into the cafeteria fund by the District’s general fund.
Facin said new unpaid lunch balances are already starting to accumulate. He said the District does not engage in “lunch shaming” and is of course not going to refuse to serve a child lunch because his or her parents have not paid the bill for previous lunches.
But what seems like an impossible situation actually has a solution. If a school district gets to a point where 60% of its students are signed up for free and reduced lunch programs, the federal and state lunch programs then pay for everybody to have free lunch. Facin said the Hoosick Falls District is about 100 students away from having 60% signed up, and he is convinced that there are more students than that who are eligible for the program. So it is primarily a matter of getting parents who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program to fill out the forms to sign up. And of course the District is ready, willing and able to help them with the paperwork.
Capital Project
Board President John Helft said in his report that the District is going to have to take another look at doing a capital project. He said over time the District has to spend money on improvements to its buildings. For instance, he said, you never know if this might be the year when the District’s boiler breaks down and needs major work – and then you have to spend a lot of money to repair or replace it, and you don’t get state aid with that expenditure. If you had replaced it as part of a capital project, the local taxpayers pay 20% of the cost and the State pays 80% of it.
The fact is, said Helft, “the District will spend less money by doing the capital project than they will by not doing it.”
Mr. Facin cited the example of the nurses station built this summer at a cost of approximately $70,000. If that had been done as part of a capital project, the District would have received a check reimbursing it for $56,000 of the cost. As it is, the District will get no aid from the State for that project.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Facin said Business Administrator Emily Sanders is putting together a committee to look at re-organizing the bus routes to make them more efficient. Facin said he thinks the buses could pick up all the students in one trip rather than doing two runs as it is now set up, and this could produce big savings for the District. Sanders and Board member Andy Beaty will be on the committee, and Sanders said she is looking for volunteers from the community to join the Transportation Committee.
Facin said the District is just about ready to start offering classes for the community utilizing the facilities and the expertise of staff at the school. Classes planned so far include cooking classes, a class on drone technology, a fly-fishing class, and a class on social media for seniors. He said if anyone in the community would like to request a class that could be offered as part of this program, they are encouraged to call District Clerk Pam Cottrell with ideas.
Facin said Patrick Bakaitis has been doing some drainage work for the District. He has done some ditching by the side of the bus garage property to improve drainage there, and has worked on drainage of the fields behind the school. He also cleared the new cross-country running track, and the District will be hosting its first cross-country meet this week. Facin said he will be building a horse ring near the field hockey field, so that the equine therapy activities can be held on school grounds.
Facin also said since the District is spending a significant sum each year renting soccer fields from the soccer club, he would like to look into the possibility of buying the soccer club fields. He thought perhaps something could be worked out that would benefit both the soccer club and the school.
At the beginning of the meeting, Science teacher Deb Mabee gave a presentation about the research she did this past summer working with RPI scientists on a number of Adirondack lakes, including Lake George. The study is assessing the impact of climate change on lake ecosystems in the Adirondacks. She described sampling and analysis on many lakes, and problems from the acid rain of an earlier era to a new problem with dissolved organic matter turning lakes brown.
Facin said the research she is doing is “on the cutting edge of climate studies.” He said when teachers are engaged in research of this kind, it brings an excitement and real-world connection to the classroom that greatly improves the students’ learning and motivation.