District Receives Fourth Consecutive Clean Audit and

Continues to Grow Reserve Funds 

May 29, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY – For the fourth consecutive year, the Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) received a clean audit report, announced Cliff Hudson, Chairman of the OKCPS Board of Education.  The public accounting firm of Cole & Reed issued the audit of financial statements, which covers the 2005-06 school year. 

OKCPS also increased its fund balance in 2005-2006 to $10.6 million, reflecting the continued financial improvement of the District.  Four years ago the District’s balance was precariously low at less than $7,000.

“I am very pleased with the progress the District has made the past four years.  We have made major leaps in restoring the financial integrity of the District.   This year’s audit findings validate once again the series of aggressive actions we took several years ago to rebuild our financial systems as well as substantially improve accounting practices and the management of funds.  These were the right moves and they are continuing to pay dividends for our District and our taxpayers,” Hudson said.

He continued, “We appreciate the hard work of our interim Superintendent Linda Brown, the head of our District’s financial group, Scott Randall, as well as their respective staffs for the fine job they are doing as evident by this very positive audit report.  We are headed in the right direction on the financial front.”

“A clean audit is the goal of every school district but when urban districts achieve this track record it is cause for celebration,” said Interim Superintendent Linda Brown.   “We place a high priority on fiscal responsibility and accountability at the District.  Financial accountability was a major tenet of the community report leading up to MAPS for Kids.   We are ever cognizance of our responsibility to the community in this area.  Each year we receive a ‘clean audit opinion’ we are one year closer to becoming a model urban school district,” Brown said.

Prior to the 2002-2003 school year, the district had not received a clean audit from independent auditors for at least a decade.

The audit shows total revenues for the 2005-2006 year at approximately $255 million.  The $10.6 million fund balance equals 4.13 percent of the district’s budget. The district’s goal is to grow the fund balance to 4.5 percent of the budget or roughly $11.5 million.

“Achieving quality financial management requires discipline and commitment from everyone and I appreciate the dedication of all district staff in this effort,” Brown said.

The Oklahoma City Public Schools is an urban public school system operating 91 schools with more than 40,500 students.  The District is undergoing an extensive transformation through an historic public-private partnership known as MAPS for Kids.  Voters in Oklahoma City passed in 2001 a temporary sales tax along with a $180 million bond issue to fund the construction, renovation and modernization of the District including 75 school sites.  This year the District will open the latest of three new high schools as part of the MAPS for Kids initiative, which is projected for completion in 2011.

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