001e are we good think I forgot all right it is 5:31 so I'll call the meeting to order and one thing you will notice we do not have board docks up tonight so there are a couple of action items on here they will be um voice votes Craig will do that this is a work session which means we have the hard stop at 7:30 which is great because that means we all know when we're getting out of here or or we can make a change you guys want to stay longer Sydney and Eric oh 7:30 is good okay just checking so hard stop at 7:30 um this we have uh Sydney and her team will be presenting and then Eric will be presenting and I'm pretty excited to hear about eate because N9 years later
002I still will be learning about eate when you start talking about this so I'm excited about it all right Craig if you'll call the rooll please thank you madam chair and first a quick uh couple of protocols uh letting everybody know we are live streaming tonight and when you speak if you'd please turn your mic on speak into your mic so that the folks on live stream can hear what you're having to say and then please remember to turn your mic off when you are finished making your comments and please be careful we do have a few power cords strown about the room and if everyone would please take a minute to silence your cell phones we'd appreciate it if you need to have an extended conversation with a person next to you or on
003your phone please do so in the lobby please note spontaneous comments from the floor are not permitted and individuals who exhibit disruptive or distracting Behavior will be asked to leave and I will now call the role paa Lewis present Carol Thompson present Lori Bowman present Jessica sentes present Dana Meister present Mike Shelton present Juan Lona present mag Melaney we have a quorum thank you so 2.01 is consider taking actions oning did I say that wrong did I need to do it again I'm just totally messing with you um 2.01 is to consider taking action on encumbrances and uh our CFO Sydney Ward is available if you have any questions on the encumberance list I will make a motion to approve the encumbrance list is there a second second any discussion or questions for Sydney okay
004I'll call the vote please yes give Ernest thank you thank you everybody thank thank you uh calling the role of for the vote The Voice votes on approving the encumbrances Paula Lewis yes Carol Thompson yes ly Bowman yes Jessica sentes yes Dana Meister yes Mike Shelton yes Juan Lona yes have having received seven I votes and zero nay votes the motion carries thank you 2.02 is presentation and possible actional on school year 2025 2026 e- rate contracts for internet access Services wide area network network switches wireless and network switch maintenance and uninterruptible power supply maintenance um executive director of Information Technology Services Eric Hilman is going to present to us good evening it's my pleasure to present item 2.0 two on eate uh for your edification and your knowledge um we have been an eate
005um I would say subscriber or a client since 1997 um and so we've been having e- rate for a very long time and what is e- rate uh e- rate is education rate and on what eate does for us and Bridging the Divide is it's a federal program authorized managed by the Federal Communications Commission um on your phone bills and on your cable bills if you still have cable I cut my cable a long time ago uh but if you still have cable bills and you still have phone bills cell phone bills you may see at the bottom of your bill it will say Universal service fee that everybody pays into this pot of dollars and it's $2.25 billion dollar per year year for schools and libraries um and it's not a cash Grant per
006se um it is a discount program um that ranges anywhere from 20 to 90% discounts on Internet services and up to 85% discounts on um internal connections and network equipment and wiring um the wiring and switches and rers they're really really expensive so they drop that down to 85% discount uh for Oklahoma Oklahoma City proper uh we uh qualify for the maximum discount in both categories so we get 90% discounts on our white area network services and we get 90% discount on our internet services I want that to my house that would be pretty awesome um and we get 85% um discounts for um switches routers cabling Wi-Fi access points all the stuff that that you you don't see um it is a a for schools in librar specifically in 1922 when uh un Universal
007service was first established by the Telecommunications Act it was to create home phone service uh for every every residential facility across Across the Nation and then the Telecommunications Act of 1996 redirected that redirected that for Universal service to connect schools and libraries so how the e-rate program works is you have to apply uh for um apply to the FCC every every year it's not a a a gift or um bonified gift or discount program that you're going to get without applying for it so we apply every year and on um in your packet you will see our application what we're applying for this year uh we will always um apply for wi area network services and internet access and then depending on what infrastructure needs there are that changes every year so we do have
008to apply every year and then we get what's called a funding commitment decision letter um and this is really important because even though you apply for category one we will always spend general fund dollars category one is the internet access and wi area network services but for for category two Services which is your switches and your wires all the expensive stuff uh we do not spend any dollars until we are approved and so we we don't want it because that's really really expensive think you know if you're spending 15 cents on the dollar for those I'm not going to spend a dollar for a dollar right um because that's just not fiduciary responsible and so we will um uh make sure we have a an approved funding commitment decision from the FCC that says your
009applications approved go forth and spend and so that's what the application is for is for this year is um there is a discount determination um is based on your uh poverty levels the national school lansch program it is those that qualify not participate and it also make a determination based on Rural or Urban status Oklahoma City you go figure we are an urban School District right but it is more expensive uh to provide internet services and W services to your remote communities across the country uh so they get a little bump in priority uh that's why you have that range from 20 to 90% so if you are like a super wealthy School District you just filled the paperwork out you're going to get a 20% discount on your services if you're a pretty poor
010School District like us you're going to get 90% discount on your services um this is also important to mention that because we are a community El eligibility provision District uh we don't we get that 90% because of of that c range and so we don't have to fill out those uh free reduc school school lunch forms every year because we are a CPE District in addition to that of course we know that all kids eat free and we get a 90% discount on um internet access and 85% discount on um Network equipment this is what eate covers it covers your internet access covers Wi-Fi Wi-Fi networks uh indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi networks covers Network equipment and internal connections what do we not see on here pop quiz devices devices correct it does not cover devices
011that would be awesome if it covered devices um and and so everybody says it would be awesome if it would cover devices but it does not um but it does cover all all the pipes and and all the connectivity that make all that happen um so we're still under obligation to provide uh devices for students under under a different program just not not eate and once our impact without e- rate is we would have slower connectivity think of the that buffering that happens back when you were on dial up dial up connections and you had that nice beautiful sound that was squeaky and and you connected and then it took you four hours uh to watch a two-minute video so it wouldn't be that bad but um you would have have buffering issues um you
012would have technology gaps between those districts that could um afford those higher speed connectivity options versus those that could not so you would have a Have and Have knots between communities and so this puts at everyone at a competitive Advantage if we didn't have erap we' be at competitive disadvantage uh limited online resources um everything is is all web based these days um and if you didn't have those Services You' either be be paying for it out of pocket out of out of District funds or you would be doing without and then finally reduce preparation uh for enrolled enlisted and employed um after after graduation from Oklahom City Public Schools and so we want to prepare them for those digital learning Environ digital environments work environments um post post graduation so real dollars this is
013this is the slide here um since 2005 uh we have this um eate consulting firm that we've had since 2005 we have received $80 million in telecomunications and network equipment Services out of pocket cost $9.7 million that's 12 cents on the dollar that those are real dollars that that we have saved and not spent out of pocket last year's application uh we asked for $894,000 in the um internet broadband and wide area network and that was a 90% discount as we've stated and that is paid at out of general fund and it has been forever and ever and then our internal connections is was $1.8 million in request and our out of pocket was $274,000 an 85% discount as an aggregate so total received last year and requested $22.71 million in request and out of
014pocket $363,000 that's real and then finally our this year's application that you will hopefully approve tonight is the um category one or partty one was $894,000 no change whatsoever we haven't increased any bandwidth we didn't see any needs to increase bandwidth this year um and our basic maintenance internal connections that request has come down slightly um $1.1 million and so our total ask uh $2.2 million in request and $279,000 out of out of pocket so um general fund and bond and so all of our Category 2 uh Network equipment and wiring has always been paid out of out of bond dollars and internet access and Y network is paid out of Y area network um I will state that even though this has a an AI Vibe is because it was created fully AI uh
015with a an app called gamma. apppp um it I'm going for the coolness factor and so I in in this really it created literally five minutes all the pictures and everything and I I gave it the text and it spit this thing I was like this is Magic and um so I'm just going for the coolness factor I want to let you know about that gamma do app pretty slick I will entertain any questions you might have all right thank you thank you so much gosh uh first of all thanks Dr pulk and your team for just making these work sessions really work and really educating us um it does multiple things one it makes an educated board can make better decisions in alignment for students and the other thing it really kind of goes
016along with that Financial transparency piece we had a week or so ago before spring break of just telling the community that you know this is what we do this is the real work of the world um it's in alignment with what we're supposed to do I mean one of our jobs is financial responsibility you know over oversight of the district and thank you for that I really appreciate it um we'll go around and ask questions I did have one question burning actually so I can't remember if it was 2016 or 17 but I know you were here with us Eric what was the rate Fiasco for lack of a better we had lost a lot of money on eate when I first got on the board and it caused it was like a $16 million
017kind of Cliff between losing some per pup funding based on attendance and e- rate and it resulted in a pretty massive riff across the district I don't think that was eate specific there was some e an eate funding pot that existed um and it was created before my time and that had been uh pillaged to pay for some other things um and that may be what you're referring to okay I appreciate that thank you thank you very much all right let's see let's start Juan you got anything for us no Mr Shelton uh Lori I actually have a question um has there been any you know there's so much happening at the federal level right now regarding funding and just just realignment of you know government agencies has there been any talk that this program
018could be impacted by all the changes at the federal level there has been talk um and there there are U letters to your Senator and representative that is going around being sponsored by the Consortium of school networking as well as the AA the state educational Tech director Association um yes there is talk about that um nothing concrete yet but we're keeping our eyes open can that would be a sad a sad thing for that to go away $80 million is is is real yeah superintendent pul could we get that email or that letter I can get it for you thank you thank you yes ma'am thanks okay Dana I just want to say thank you very much that was very straightforward and I understood every word of it thank you and appreciate that thank you
019for the presentation my eyes glaze over when I say it too it's all good Jessica uh yeah Mr hman thank you again for that presentation I'm really well done with the data and putting it into Ai and then having this wonderful presentation minutes be generated yeah no but it's great um yeah I did have a couple questions so this eate program is it only for school districts or like I guess if a family wanted to benefit in a way could they it is only for school districts uh and and public libraries um the statue is very specific about that okay perfect and um so I guess if we vote on this in the future um so would anything really change from last year to this year in terms of our like internet access internet access
020no wide area access no what did change from last year to this year is we purchased our apption last year included un uninterruptible power supplies and so that was the big expense last year and this year we're just paying maintenance on that and so that's why that that went down in in in funding funding request awesome and the percentage of discount how is that determined um per district is it like just how many of our students are economically disadvantaged or yes okay and so we're at 92% um right District overall and so um so that's why we get the the higher end of that we're at 88 was 12 cents on the dollar that's correct over that over the lifetime since 2005 okay perfect um and I did also want to note that we've been
021participating in this program longer than I've been alive so that's it's kind of fun on that's awesome excellent no great work okcps and thank you Dr pul and Paula Carol I wanted to ask um the out of out of pocket amount is that mainly upgrades it can be upgrades the UN uninterruptible power supply was new we haven't had that before um and so what the benefit you'll see with that is that when schools have power blips um the front office will stay active for at least 15 minutes and that is about enough time for switches to start rebooting and rescheduling themselves um and so their front office phones will still work um the front office internet will will still work Infinite Campus will still work um sap will still work and we haven't had that
022in the past and that that was that was a a new new expense and as we bring on new campuses um will we add that into what we're going to each year if we can time it right yes um it has to have a um a state U site code for that school as well as being um um registered with within CES okay thank you yes ma'am and I have used gamma I love it I have a question I'm sorry so uh you mentioned earlier uh what doesn't cover and it didn't cover devices earlier so let's say that couple of schools they have trouble with their devices who's responsible for those do the district pay for those or there's like a a package deal that uh in case they need to be repaired or uh
023up excuse me how you excuse me in case I need to be upgrade or uh get a new a new uh device so who who will pay who will pay for those that is a big loaded question board member um so right now we are in the midst of preparing a a new bond proposal uh specifically for student devices and with that would include uh warranties on those devices and they have a life cycle currently as it stands now um every device we purchase for student use comes with a four-year warranty on those devices um so it's it's it's accidental damage on those does not cover intentional damage but it does cover accidental damage um and then on our iPads we also have a warranty on those too thank you yes sir so when they
024it has to come out of general fund though so if they're out of warranty anything if it's not a bond it's general fund Mike uh just going back to the slide previously that we received eight $80 million or whatever it was yep uh was that 80 million actually spent on it stuff or is it we spent 500 or 50,000 or 50 million in no it was 80 million in in in services and in um what 9 I can't read it from here 9.7 and and that was our discount rate so that that 12 cents on the dollar so at the end of the day 80 million is what we received in Services received in received in Services okay thank you so I think maybe what Mr Shelton's asking is when I asked the question about
025201617 you said there' kind of been a pot that had been pillaged so are we tighten that up now the money that we save actually the money we receive actually goes to that's a little before my time I don't quite understand how that works I know I'm just saying like that but right now the board can be assured that if money comes in the door it's being spent in the way that the application says it's being spend yeah got it and back in 16 17 that was also the case okay thank you okay all right yes and to that question of Mr Shelton um so this money that we have for it do we get to choose which internet provider or who gets to do these services like is it in that contract great question
026um the eate program requires that schools and libraries enter it to an open competitive bid process and so we go out for bid every five years and we were a onet customer for forever uh until 5 years ago and Cox won that contract um actually now 7 years ago 7 years ago yep aesome so it is open competitive bid and transparent and the FCC audits that as well um we had an audit I think back in 2010 uh which we passed with flying colors um and so they do they do audit that and it is open competitive bid okay so I'm assuming it's changed over time oh yes yeah for sure awesome thank you yes ma'am okay this is an action item and vice chair bman has a motion great I'd like to make a
027motion to approve the school year 2025 2026 eate contracts listed on the agenda is there a second second Carol Thompson won the race call for the votes Paula Lewis yes Carol Thompson yes Lori Bowman yes Jessica sentes yes Dana Meister yes Mike Shelton yes and I think that was a yes thank you and Juan Lona yes having received seven I votes and zero nay votes the motion carries thank you um I listened in on a call for the Council of great City Schools Board of Directors I'm on that invite list because of being the chair and it was pretty exciting superintendent pul was on it too was long about 3 hours on Sunday morning listening to it but we listen to it and one of the things they said is that districts they encouraged districts
028to be very transparent about their finances and to really start digging in and looking at how they're spending their money and we were like high-fiving each other from different states that we're doing it like we were ahead of them telling us to do it so and this is part of it that's why I'm saying that is just the fact that we're getting ready to have the draft audit presented to us um and Tony I believe and Sydney have a little bit of a presentation for us to just show us what we look for in Audits and what these annual audits are for is just one more sample um of how this board is committed to financial transparency for our community and the fact that we are here again on another Monday night I think this
029will make three Monday nights we were here out of uh March and so thank you guys for doing that I think it's really important to show that we are truly looking at what's good for all students have positive outcome so thank you and as always we uh do the vision and what's um amazing here is in order for us to have a healthy Vibrant Community uh this as um being transparent will be important as I uh flip through I want to take just a moment and invite uh Miss Suffield uh assistant superintendent just ground Us in where we are regarding the current reality as it relates to erate and the fiscal year 24 audit please yeah and if I may um we don't start a single meeting in okcps without reciting um the vision so
030I'm going to ground Us in what our purpose is in the work so if my teammates will join me by providing Equitable access to world class education every Oklahoma City public school student will graduate ready to fulfill their unique purpose in a healthy commun and then you also see there our current Mission every day Oklahoma City Public Schools will ignite a passion for learning in every child invite families to engage and Inspire respectful and trusting relationships with our diverse Community um so some insight into our financial audit that our team is going to walk you through tonight um our audit is going to help us to ensure that funds are equitably distributed just like we see called out in our vision that when we're evaluating our budgets and reflecting back over our spending because this
031is previously spent money that we're spending money directly aligned with those kpis that we've called out because that's our measurement tool um as determined by our state that we're ensuring that our investments are heavily um lined up with instructional infrastructure and talent management so curriculum our teacher training and our classroom resources so the things that actually touch kids each and every day within okcps and then our continuous transparency and our financial decision making helps to build um trust with this board but trust with our families um trust with our staff and trust with our Community Partners who continue to invest um in us and okcps one of the things that really really really just excites me is that um this is a time for us to look back um and check ourselves and say how
032did we do um to evaluate if we're living up to our VIs vision and Mission ensuring that our financial resources are allocated fairly transparently and effectively to support improved student outcomes because that's what we've committed to that's what we've told our public um that we're about and Dr pul will often say show me your CER in your checkbook and we'll be able to understand what your priorities are so this is a glimpse into our checkbook um and for us to receive some feedback on how well are we getting that job done so with that thank you um if I may next please ask uh Tony chers play general counsel kind of ground Us in regards of policy and law as we look into our annual audit yeah this is a great opportunity for us to
033go back to that discussion that we started in the prior work session and talking about not only are we looking at our own policies and looking at how are we spending money to better educate kids but how we doing that transparently so that we can show that we're using money appropriately and that we're using in a way that we believe is best used to educate our kids um and just as the background to give us some background before Sydney goes into her presentation when it comes to audits uh Oklahoma law requires that every school district in the state have an audit performed every year and it is an audit that looks not just at your finances but also compliance um there are particular guidelines that the auditor follows that they're required to follow and the
034auditor has to be chosen from a list of Auditors that is approved through the state as being someone who's approved to audit Public Schools particularly meaning that they have a background in looking at other public entities and that they have someone on staff that has received at least some minimal amount of training when it comes to school finances and auditing um just a bit of a background on that again this is a yearly requirement it's a regular thing it's routine that you see across the state uh this time of year boards across all across Oklahoma are going through the process of looking at those audits that are coming through um there is a requirement in law that those audits Oklahoma law that the audit be performed nine months after the close of the fiscal year
035so we have your little sheet here a little cheat sheet with some definitions on it if you remember uh most of you probably know but just as a reminder that that fiscal year is from July 1 through June 30 it is not a a January December fiscal year but we have our own fiscal year that is July 1 through June 30 so when we're talking about the audit we're talking about 2024 the the fiscal year that ended in J June of 2024 um and and that process is supposed to be done again within nine months of the close of that fiscal year there's also a federal requirement that for any school district uh as of right now that receives more than $750,000 in federal funding also has to have an audit that looks at those
036fundings sometimes that's referred to as a single audit again on your definition sheet or maybe in a federal fund audit and that is also due by that deadline N9 months after which would be March 31st uh now there are things there are mechanisms in place and we're going to talk about a little bit that gives us the opportunity to get that extension uh because there are sometimes where there are hiccups that happen and you have to take some time to get it done uh but it is part of the process that's provided for in law and again it's just that opportunity for us to look back as Alicia was saying to look back and see how are we using that money for the betterment of our kids and always use any opportunity that we we
037have to look at finances to ask ourselves that question how are we educating our kids better thank you so much and I'm going to turn the microphone now over to our finance team starting with uh Sydney Ward our Chief Financial Officer she does have a couple people with her and at this time will you introduce I sure will um I have uh the Executive Director of Finance Clint everheart I also have an Harper who's our Treasurer and Marty sawer who is the um director of purchasing and they all play a very vital part in everything we do every day um including the audit um and as Tony mentioned it's based on 12 year or 12 months uh from July 1 to June 30 every year so what we're trying to wrap up is last year's
038fy2 24 um audit um and I also have a special guest that has come he is a our lead auditor for RSM who is our audit firm Tino robetto and he's from Austin Texas and he has prepared a draft ver or draft review of our audit it's not finalized yet so we're still working through a few things but he might want to speak upon what the uh current update is microphone microphone we don't have to suspend rules to allow somebody from Austin Texas to speak do we thank you uh I don't know what to say after that as Tony indicated as part of the overall financial statement audit it's not just the financial statement audit but we were engaged as an outside independent accounting firm we're also required to pretty much marry your federal funds
039with your financial statement audit what does that mean that just means a lot more work not only for uh for the team here at at the district but also for the outside audit firm that just means that uh as prescribed by the federal agencies we're required to look at those federal funds that you're receiving as the school district and we're required to audit so much every year and everything's pretty much prescriptive meaning we don't get to pick or choose to a certain extent we do but we do have to audit so much of the federal funds that you receive on an annual basis so as indicated uh we're auditing the fiscal year ending 6:30 2024 uh we started the process with the districts manage management team back in in November December time frame it it
040sometimes these PR presentations don't do justice to the level of effort that management puts in to get the audit out we come up here and we do a 15-minute presentation after I don't know so many months of trying to get there uh so today I'm here to provide an update on both the financial statement audit and the single audit which is the compliance audit over your federal funds as of today we've provided uh a preliminary draft of the financials and I say preliminary because as part of any audit we're required to not only use the team that's assigned to the audit but we're required to bring in quality reviewers to review the work that's been completed to ensure that we're following Professional Standards and of course in this case federal guidelines that have been issued
041by the federal agencies that are providing the funds so as part of that quality review process it we have to follow certain uh procedures which means um I can't review any section until the team that's been assigned and management feels comfortable with whatever's been completed to date so it kind of creates a bottleneck on on the toll end of the audit because of the fact that every section that's been audited has to be looked at by multiple people from our accounting firm and sometimes we do involve uh other parties in this case we we bring in our own actuaries to to look at your uh pension valuations to look at your oped valuations all those numbers are embedded in part of your uh financial statements so it does add uh extra time in terms of
042the overall effort uh effort that it takes as well as uh bringing the the final deliverable to to its completion so as of today we like I indicated and as Cindy indicated we've given you a draft of the financials we're still trying to get through the the compliance work uh trying to finish out the quality reviews and in terms of where we are today uh results I would say we're we're getting close but we're not there yet uh those quality reviews must be completed uh on the items to report ultimately you'll probably see two matters that will probably be reported at the end of the audit as it relates to the controls that that we look at as part of any audit we're required especially on the federal side we're required to look at the
043internal controls that are in place we look at those not for the purpose of issuing an opinion on internal controls but we use them to gain efficiencies throughout the audit however we see anything we're required to report it so in this case we will have two matters to report one is related more on the it front and the other ones related more on the on on on financial presentation classification front so those items will be looked that and assessed and classified accordingly and what I mean by that is they can be just control deficiency which means okay we'll have a a debrief with management and we'll address them and and and uh address the details as to how we came about uh to where we ended up with those conclusions uh the other could be
044and it there's three different levels so that's a control deficiency where we don't have to put it down in writing uh the second level is a significant deficiency where we actually have to report it and it becomes part of the deliverable that we give to the district and the third is the material weakness which is also has to be be in writing and communicate to the district and the the only difference is once it goes into writing it does go up to the feds and the FEDS your your federal funding grant tours will see that as well so uh as of today like I said we're still trying to get through our quality reviews and all of this in the end I mean it there's a lot of effort that that goes into it a
045lot of it uh that that uh a lot of that effort is beyond the control of the district so the completion of the audit by 3:31 is not going to happen and of course that was totally out of the district's control I'll stop there I kind of rambled a lot so I want to thank you for being in the space uh we wanted to ensure you were available but when they told me you were in the building that meant a lot to me so I publicly want to say thank you for taking the time to be here tonight Sydney well I just wanted to give a little uh some little Trend information over the past four or five years that we've had so a couple things that you'll find in the audit when you look
046at it you'll find our net position which is basically our assets minus our liabilities um on average we're 458 million to 520 million it just kind of es and flows throughout the years based on you know if we sell any property um if we incur any more debt Etc um another key item you're going to see is the fund balance which we talk about that quite a bit and our general fund balance has fluctuated and most part over the past four years due to the large amount of Esra money we received and so but in the in I'd say most basic terms it stayed between 28 and $40 million and from last year to this year we're pretty flat as of today so we're going to work really hard on trying to continue to uh
047curb the expenses and and keep that where we at right now the other big thing that we're going to see whenever you see the audit is the TRS pension um and that's basically um what we would owe as a district if everybody retired at the same time it's a big liability that we have you'll see that fluctuate too depending on how many people retire throughout the you know at the end of the year but on average it's around $250 to $300 million um and like Tito mentioned earlier we have the single audit based on the amount of money that we incur for federal dollars and we have that every year because we're always over $750,000 um for FY 24 we're right around 93 million dollar in federal money that we were audited on um and
048then everybody knows that the bulk of our money for general fund comes from the state based on our student count um back in 2019 we had 37,000 students um the lowest it dropped was in 2021 to 31,000 we're now back to 33 um so I think it's a good Trend um but that's really the most uh those are the big big high level dogs that you're going to see in the audit whenever you guys look at it um I'm trying to think if there is anything else I think that's really and I know our staff works really really hard we work we get everything ready and to submit to the auditors we work on it from July 1 to October we provide them all the information in November and then we work on all the
049testing after that and the entire department works really hard so um you know I I I hate it that we're not going to have it done by March the 31st but um we will have it done shortly thereafter absolutely thank you thank you uh Miss Ward Sydney for sharing that and kudos to the team in regards of the work that they're doing behind the scenes in order for this to take place please note I have actually had two meetings with the Auditors since I've been in uh place and that's why I just say I'm grateful that after our last conversation that you chose to be here and provide uh what the kids say uh receipts in regards of this was not OK CPS says um delay we did what we needed to do but just
050due to other circumstances uh just says a lot when um someone says this is on us and I'll show up so that others uh will won't be he said he said it himself once again I I say thank you in regards of chair we don't have any anything to vote on in regards of but it was really important that we still present it in regards of fiscal year audit for um 24 and we will when it comes uh go through and look at how we spent the monies but I I found it interesting Even in our previous conversations there are some things just based off of the dollar amount that you almost can assume will be part of the audit and when we spoke it was our title plan as well as special ated because
051of the amount of monies that come through uh and I appreciate it knowing that and and as we are good stewards of the resources this is just another Avenue in regards of us doing that I'll turn it over to you and then I have some last words and sh share that yeah you share it with me okay thank you appreciate it thank you for being here Tito I appreciate you doing that um and just a clarifying question so even though it's not ready on March 31st we will be able to send something in the state department that says hey here's the draft here's the letter we've done our part and we'll know yeah we will submit a um letter that Tony has drafted for Dr pul um to sub MIT to the State Department of
052Education just to act ask for an extension um we've put 45 days but Tino feels that we should have it ready that first week of mar or April I keep thinking March but April but we won't use the 45 days so um we should have something way before that time frame okay thank you and just the housekeeping board you guys who did uh reply to the poll for Friday night at F at 5 was going to be the winner winner but we don't need it so you got your fiday Friday at 5 back okay but I appreciate you being willing to show up for the important work that we have to do to approve items take it you got it I know um okay so now it's back to you right to show you're showing
053us the audit now is that no there's okay that's it okay I was just I thought she said something about Clint and I was like you haven't talked yet okay was like okay you had me confused there for a second but we will eventually when the audit's ready then you'll present it to us and those are the numbers you were talking about we were going to see yes that's where I was a little confused okay okay yeah I wanted to give just some little Trend information from high you know high level things that you'll see in the audit but he has prepared a draft but it is not ready for I mean we still have a couple of cleanup items that we need to finish and so and then they need to finish the review
054so that should be done fairly quickly hopefully within the next two weeks okay you said if I remember correctly 2021 was our lowest enrollment at 31,000 that was probably where our lowest point was yeah 31 1,29 kids we went from 37532 in 2019 to 31029 and it's a look back of 3 years so we should be moving out of that low yes low attendance meaning that we should start seeing our per pup go up okay double check it all right anybody have any questions Carl I do too yes I I wanted to know um even if we're a week late let's say with um submitting the documents will we have to pay a fee no there is no fee incurred but the state withholds any federal payments to us so if we have outstanding claims
055that we've submitted up there they won't pay us they won't reimburse us for those until the audit is submitted unless we get the exemption yeah unless we get the exemption but again I'm not after Tino and I spoke I'm not anticipating this to last too much longer after March the 31st question yes uh Mr Roo can I ask you a question yes well besides this question uh when you were talking about the the different levels of uh like if if you have to report in writing or report in writing and then uh communication to the district are there also consequences to any of those three levels um on the federal front yes uh so if you end up with something that's a material weakness which is the highest level you can go they will require
056that you audit uh 40% of the total funds versus 20% now what does that mean you as a district you so as part of the overall audit we're required to try to rotate all your largest programs tital one Child Nutrition all of your bigger programs they have to be rotated on an uh annual basis meaning every three years what the feds want us to do is to to to at least look at the larger program so that every 3 years you're not just constantly look looking at Title One let's say or you're looking at Child Nutrition every year they want you to get away from that so you're trying to to look at your entire population so from a from the 20% to 40% threshold it does result in maybe an additional program or two
057that we would have to audit as part of the annual audit awesome interesting thank you yes thank you madam chair uh just a couple of questions uh RSM has been doing our audit for how long uh it's been a while I I I do not know this is my first year as the engagement leader on the audit so previous to that I know I think 2016 or 17 possibly been it's been seven eight years at least that they've been doing it every year in the last meeting I asked who the buck stops with and the the board because we are the final overseer my question to you is I'm sure you're well aware of Tulsa public schools and the obstacles they have what advice would you give Oklahoma City's public school board on to avoid
058Tulsa type issues transparency is the best uh uh I guess uh option for for that and and what I mean by that is um there's all types of audits financial statement audits uh you know uh performance Audits and and you always have to make the distinction between what one audit is trying to achieve versus another meaning the extent of testing is definitely a lot more when you're doing a forensic forensic types audit versus a financial statement audit so the the results that you get may be different and it's just based on the overall objective of the audit so as these audits as you're you're uh exposed to these audits I think you'd want to have that upfront communication of you know what type of audit is it what's the over overall scope and and and
059make sure you uh you as a district have an understanding of the the the extent of work that's going to be involved and the overall objectives so that uh not only the district but the outside auditor you're both on the same page as to what the overall objective is and and the expectations from from management because uh hopefully if if it's a it's if it's an outside party you want management involved as much as possible so that there's no miscommunication because a lot of the times that's what happens on these audits is you just try to rush it uh there's there's a a misinterpretation of facts or or lack of of of of uh documentation or not having all the facts I'm so again not intentionally picking on Tulsa but uh my question to you
060is in their audit they had a bunch of things things that going on for five years uh I'm just picking one thing out of there something that had gone on for five years or so my question is is how how did that go through five Audits and not get picked up by the board or their auditor how how does it happen over and over and over yeah that I I mean I I can't answer to that because of the fact that it depends on the scope of services like if if you were to if you were to engage RSM to say okay we think there's a risk here and we want you to come in here and look at it in Greater detail the results that you get may be different from that which is
061an agreed upon a test service versus a financial statement audit because you're asking us to look at it in Greater detail meaning on a financial statement audit let's say I don't know in Texas they have what they call the public funds investment act so there's a lot of compliance matters that are associated with investing we can go in and look at that and and see that okay your designated officers aren't aren't getting the required training okay what does that do for the financial statement audit is that really going to change your opinion the answer is no because of the fact that the numbers are still good you're going to get a clean opinion however if if the scope was at a lower level meaning we want to know whether or not management has complied with
062the public funds investment act then that's easy we would would say no they did not so you would get different results under that level of an engagement versus a financial statement audit and and those those Eng engagements are common to where if if you as as an entity think there's a risk that you're exposed to you can bring in an outside uh auditor to say okay we think there's a risk here we want to go to a lower level a deeper dive and these are the this is what you're looking for and and that would change the the outcome of of what you would see versus a typical financial statement audit cuz cuz this the the what we call materiality significantly changes based on the scope that's a great question great question and it made
063me think around once or twice and get a good question out that's a great question but it made me think one of the things that um we've heard that through Council great City School that some districts have is a policy that states when the superintendent transitions a change in superint or leadership that there's an audit uh just so you can separate what is the new superintendent Dr pules what was on her time and what was prior to that what kind of audit would that be like what be the scope of that audit uh it it just depends depends I mean I i' I've had City officials Reach Out specifically for that and their concern was okay we want to look at this section of of of our accounts payable because we don't feel comfortable with
064with with the administration that left so it it it it just depends on where is the concern okay and to be clear we're not saying it's concern we were literally looking at Best Practices um cuz the average Super Urban superintendency is short it's not a 20-year lifespan most times and so just to protect the Investments and the outcomes for students is that you know we have to figure out if that's a good policy to have and what the benefit of that would be thank you I mean ultimately the the the best uh I would say the best uh policy to have is to make sure that for for everything that the district's doing whether formal or informal that there are policies and procedures that you have in place that are being adhered to because it
065doesn't matter whether you know someone's new or someone that's been here you know 5 years they should be following your your formal or informal policies and procedures on a day-to-day basis because that's what we look at when we come in we're like okay what is it that you do to process these transactions and hopefully we get a response that hey this is what we do every day it doesn't matter whether it's you know one person or another okay thank you anyone else no okay Dr I'll turn it over to you thank you so much for the work session thank you Sydney Eric and Tito thank you for being here and Tony I want to leave out Tony thank you I am just going to close with as I look forward and um at our presenters
066uh both have been recognized for the work that they do within their area and so uh to Mr hman in regards of being recognized in regards of Technology not only uh locally but nationally that says a lot toall thank you uh for being on the team any believe that Sydney Miss Ward just walked in one day but she's been on the scene for quite a while in regards of the department and she has just been recognized in regards of her work in finance so I want to take a moment and say thank you for being on the team we so often are asked in regards of the work that we do can they turn and actually the next one in line uh do the work also and we say yes our number two's stay ready
067and the number two's number two stays ready and so uh with that being said and thank you uh Miss SEI for talking about the calendar as a well as the checkbook because that tells us where the importance is but I want to say our our role our mission is to make every dollar count and every minute count for students and we're learning together we're growing together but I really believe when we get to a little further down the road this type of conver ation we'll be able to go even deeper because right now we're just learning um that surface level vocabulary and and as we um please note get better then that will transfer to our students this work we did in cabinet we did now with board they'll turn and do it with the
068instructional leadership team operations uh all will be able to be verse in in this work session across this District so I say thank you to everyone for giving us yet another Monday night and um they may not be as y look out so this is when I say to us all before she asked for the motion not only take care but it's time to stand up for Education true okay before I make a motion to adjourn also Alicia thank you for gring us in the vision and Mission I almost left you out there that would have been very nice so I'll make a motion to discharge is there a second call for the vote please Craig all in favor say I I any opposed say nay hearing none the motion carries the board is adjourned
069appreciate you all good little work do thank you