Niagara Falls — At the Niagara Falls City School District Board of Education review session on Oct. 9, Treasurer Julie Jackler and business‑office staff summarized a draft federal audit of COVID-era relief funds the district said totaled approximately $18,600,000.

Jackler and accountant Markasia McCreary outlined four draft findings from the federal review team and described how district staff plan to respond. Jackler told the board the audit team spent about two years on the review and that the district disagrees with portions of the findings. "This is draft. We have to respond," she said.

The four draft findings Jackler summarized were: 1) employee acknowledgment forms for staff paid from federal funds did not consistently name the specific grant (for example, ESSER/"year 1"); 2) procurement documentation—specifically the absence of multiple bids—was noted for several purchases; 3) asset‑management and inventory documentation existed in separate lists rather than a single consolidated inventory; and 4) documentation tied to equitable services for nonpublic schools did not include LEA agreements from some receiving LEAs when funds were passed through per the nonpublic schools' request.

Jackler and McCreary described district responses for each finding. For the missing grant-name finding they said the district updated forms when auditors raised the issue. On procurement, McCreary said the items at issue were supplies purchased during the pandemic with unit costs ranging from about $17.95 to $978, and that district purchasing policy allows judgment/catalog pricing for items below a stated threshold (she referenced a $1,500 threshold). Jackler told the board the district believes it followed its board‑approved purchasing policy. On inventory, district staff said technology assets are tracked in Ray's list, capitalized assets appear in the business office list and maintenance maintains other records; the auditors requested a single consolidated database. On equitable services, Jackler said the district provided funds to nonpublic schools or to the LEAs those schools designated (for example, Buffalo or Grand Island) but did not have separate written LEA agreements with the larger LEAs because the nonpublic schools had requested direct transfer.

Jackler said the draft findings involved no missing dollars or apparent misuse: "No dollar, no product is missing, unaccounted for," she told the board, while also acknowledging some administrative items could have been handled differently under pandemic conditions. The board president and members asked questions about steps the district will take; Jackler said the district will file formal responses and hoped auditors would remove some findings after review.

Related budget and operations items discussed at the session included proposed release of retained payments on capital contracts (the district said it holds $825,548 in retention across contracts), a planned recommendation to appoint an internal-audit firm at next week's meeting (named in the transcript as Trancony/Tracony and Segarra — district staff said they will ask the board to approve that appointment), and an upcoming Drescher & Malecki presentation to the audit committee the following week.

District staff also said they are seeking increased cyber‑insurance coverage ($2,000,000 total coverage) at a lower premium (about $5,000 less than the prior year), and noted acceptance of philanthropic and grant funds on several short‑term contracts. Jackler said the district will present final responses to the draft audit and any resulting resolutions after the outside auditors complete their report.

No formal board vote on the draft audit was recorded during the Oct. 9 review session.