The re-evaluation of the Tioga ISD 2021 and 2022 audits came back Monday.
One material weakness was discovered in the 2021 audit—the $1.1 million amount the district was required by TEA to pay back.
“We’ll go over some of the adjustments,” said Heather LaPoint of Hankins, Eastup, Deaton, Tonn, Seay & Scarborough. “Now, what they really are is the adjustments done by the firm in 2023 and pushed back now into the appropriate year. The adjustments really aren’t anything you haven’t seen before.”
The CPA firm declared them clean, unmodifi ed audits “because we believe that the data is accurate,” LaPoint said.
Having the two reports reproduced was a decision at the state level, citing missing information about the repayment amount and a possible conflict of interest because Shawn Nesmith served on the school board before serving as the auditor.
That situation was explained fully to the state before the audits were done, President Dallas Slay said.
“Everything he did was above board,” he said. “We didn’t hide anything about who he was or what he was doing, and even TEA used his findings in their own reports on our dis- trict.”
Overall, the remainder of the original work was a “very thorough audit,” LaPoint said.
“I was pretty impressed,” LaPoint said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Mr. [Shawn] Nesmith was not that familiar with school district audits beforehand. Some of the items in here, … they’re difficult to get correct, and you see them wrong a lot, and they’re accurate.”
She added that being unfamiliar with accounting for TEA payments can make handling that properly a challenge.
With the adjustments LaPoint made to the audits, the beginning balance compared to the final figures would not match for 2022 into 2023 or for 2024.
When LaPoint’s firm handled the 2023 audit, it had noted the repayment figures as pre-period adjustments with a different starting fund balance than the final number for the new ‘22 audit.
“Those don’t jive,” TEA Conservator Dr. Karen Wiesman said, adding “they won’t process if they can’t get it to tie like that.”
The district opted to wait to give the re-issued audits to the state until LaPoint can incorporate her findings into the ‘23 and ‘24 audits.
Trustee Brandon Miller asked whether the district will need to revisit audits completed prior to ‘21 that also appeared to having missing information that could result in material findings, but the state has not required that as of the Monday meeting.
Also at the meeting, Superintendent Josh Ballinger provided a safety and security update.
The district passed the door check and intruder entry drill “with flying colors,” he said, adding that there might be some changes made to the fieldhouse based on updated security guidelines.
He also said work was being done to repair fence panels at the lower campus damaged by high winds in recent weeks.
Ballinger explained how some upcoming grant money may be used for security measures, such as cameras.
The students who have been at each campus will stay there, with the realignment setting the elementary as kindergarten through fifth, middle school as sixth through eighth and high school again to being only ninth through 12th.
“That would be pretty distinctive when it comes to hallways down there for the first time in my 13 years here; we’ve always kind of been intermixed,” Ballinger said.
Ballinger also mentioned that the district is looking into the Bluebonnet Learning Curriculum to decide if it’s a fit for TISD.
Also in the meeting, the board officially canceled the May election as all candidates ran unopposed, and Ballinger brought the Moody’s annual issuer comment to the board and the public’s attention.
