Report of Regents Audits/Budget and Finance Committee to The Board of Regents

The Regents Committee on Audits/Budget and Finance met as scheduled yesterday afternoon, January 13, 2014. The Chancellor, Regents Dawson, Phillips, Tilles, Cottrell, Norwood, Young, and Jackson were in attendance.

Items for Discussion

Completed Audits
We reviewed the 10 audits that are being presented to the Committee this month.  Two of the audits were issued by the Office of Audit Services (OAS) and eight were issued by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC).  Eight audits were of school districts and two were of charter schools.

The findings were in the areas of budgeting, financial reporting, payroll, claims processing, procurement, cash, Race to the Top Grant and student enrollment and billing.

2013 Fiscal Report
Our Chief Financial Officer briefed the Members on the Fiscal Report for December.  Extensive spending controls continue for all funds.  General Fund spending reflects the amounts appropriated in the 2013-14 enacted budget.  General Fund accounts are in structural balance with the exception of the Tenured Teacher Hearings (TTH) account.  The 2013-14 budget includes a $6 million appropriation for TTH claims, an increase of $2.2 million from the prior year.  With these additional funds, the deficit at the end of 2013-14 is projected to be $2.03 million.  Special Revenue accounts are all in structural balance on a current year basis and the accumulated negative balance in the Cultural Education Account is being reduced by approximately $3.7 million.