Trustees voted unanimously to accept the district's fiscal year 2025 audit after an auditor presentation that combined a clean opinion with an unusually blunt warning about the district's finances.

The external auditor told the board the independent opinion on the financial statements was unqualified, meaning the statements are, "in our opinion, fairly stated," but he added an emphasis of matter: there is "substantial doubt about the district's ability to continue as a going concern," and he pointed trustees to note 12 in the audit for detail. The auditor said the emphasis does not change the clean opinion but is a required disclosure for readers of the financial statements.

The audit shows a material net position deficit (the auditor cited a number close to $13 million) and an end‑of‑year general fund deficit of about $950,000. The auditor also identified instances where expenditures exceeded budgetary appropriations in several funds — the general fund, special education, capital projects and the self‑insurance fund — and recorded that as possible noncompliance with Nevada Revised Statutes.

During questions that followed, trustees pressed staff on the drivers of the shortfall. Administrators and finance staff explained the interaction of state per‑pupil funding changes, negotiated salary increases, and multiyear declines in enrollment that together have strained revenues. Staff said some increases in reported grant or budget lines reflect multi‑year federal grants carried in a single year of the budget and that transfers from the general fund to special education were made to cover excess costs.

Trustees also asked about an all‑funds investment pool that holds about $10.8 million and from which the district withdrew approximately $4.5 million this year to stabilize cash. Finance staff explained the pool is an all‑funds cash reserve and that withdrawals are restricted by statute and by the pool rules; those funds go to the district's cash account and cannot be simply moved into individual restricted funds without following statutory and administrative rules. Staff said they will provide the pool's governing language and are consulting the Department of Treasury and Department of Taxation for guidance.

After the discussion, Trustee Zinky moved to accept the audit and Trustee Miller seconded; the motion passed unanimously.

What happens next: staff and trustees said they will continue to prepare more detailed reconciliations and follow‑up materials (including a breakdown of the ‘‘general administration’’ category and grant timing) and will present specific budget reduction and consolidation analyses at upcoming meetings.