District Receives Third Consecutive Clean Audit and

Continues to Grow Reserve Funds

OKLAHOMA CITY – District staff announced to the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education at its regularly scheduled meeting this evening that for the third consecutive year independent auditors have given the district a clean audit report for the 2004-2005 school year. “Receiving clean audits is the goal of every school district but when urban districts achieve this track record it is cause for celebration. Fiscal responsibility and accountability are priorities for this district and community under MAPS for Kids. Every year we are awarded a ‘clean audit opinion’ is one more year we are closer to becoming the model urban school district we desire to be,” says Superintendent Bob Moore. Prior to the 2002-2003 school year, the district had not received a clean audit from independent auditors for at least 10 years.

Also of note is that the district has been able to increase its fund balance to $9.2 million with the acquisition of two one-time revenue sources. “Increasing the fund.

balance has been another goal. Prior to the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the district had only $6,000 in reserve funds. If we had experienced any type of catastrophic emergency, funds would not have existed to aid the district through to recovery,” comments Scott Randall, the district’s senior financial officer.

With the sale of the Star Elementary School property for $925,000 and the release of disputed property taxes that had been held for about 10 years from the county treasurer’s office in the amount of $1.2 million, the district has been able to continue growing its reserve funds. With a 2004-2005 general fund budget of approximately $243 million, the $9.2 million fund balance equals 3.8 percent of the district’s budget. The goal is to grow the fund to 4.5 percent of the budget or roughly $11 million. This fund balance goal is less than the fund balances maintained by surrounding school districts that usually range between seven and eight percent of their budget. It is considerably less than the 14 percent allowable by state law

“Over the past few years under the leadership of Senior Financial Officer Scott Randall, the financial services staff has been focusing its efforts on continuous improvement. Achieving quality financial management takes discipline and commitment from everyone and I appreciate the dedication of all district staff in this effort,” comments Moore.”

-30-