The Westwood Heights Schools Board of Education voted to accept the districtFY2025 audit and management letter after an audit presentation that yielded a clean opinion on the financial statements and on federal awards.

The districtexternal auditor told the board the audit provided "the highest level of assurance" that the financial statements were free from material misstatement and were presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The auditor reported no internal-control findings and a clean opinion on federal awards; the audit review this year focused in part on the district's nutrition cluster, which the auditor said comprised a little over one-third of the roughly $2 million in federal awards the district received.

The auditor reported the district's general fund balance at approximately $5,600,000 as of June 30, 2025, representing about 25% of general fund expenditures (roughly three months of spending). The presentation noted a budgeted use of fund balance of about $900,000 but an actual use closer to $570,000, producing a favorable variance. General fund revenues were reported at about $21.3 million for the year, down from the prior year largely because federal pandemic-era awards declined and the district served fewer students.

The auditor also reviewed long-term obligations, noting general obligation bonds and other borrowings used for past capital projects and reporting an approximate $3.5 million in compensated-absence and other long-term liabilities. At the government-wide level, the auditor explained that statewide retirement-plan liabilities can produce a negative net position even when fund-level operations are healthy; the auditor referred the board to Note 11 of the financial statements for the actuary-provided breakout of the district's share of the statewide liability.

After the presentation and a period of board questions, Mr. Fikes moved to accept the audit as presented; Mr. Walker supported the motion. The board approved the motion on a voice vote recorded as 6 ayes, 0 opposed.

Board direction/next steps: none specified in the transcript beyond acceptance of the audit and the auditor's offer to answer follow-up questions.

Ending: The auditor thanked staff for cooperation and noted the district's internal controls and use of intermediate services division personnel as factors that assisted with the audit work.