Kudos to board member Abbe Stensland requesting an investigatory audit into the student activities fund at Lisbon Schools after discrepancies were found.
Much like citizen Todd Nelson, we don’t think any crimes or wrongdoing has occurred, but the audit only helps to bolster confidence and make sure that is the case, as well as work to help the district make any needed improvements.
We get Lisbon Schools is a small district, and that it is hard to have enough people in a small office have oversight on the amount of money that flows into the school on a daily basis. It’s something every one of our communities routinely gets noted for not being able to follow in audits.
Like Stacy Hunter said at the Lisbon School Board meeting Wednesday, “The students—but also parents, taxpayers, teachers, and community–deserve to have proper procedures in place and to know their money is property accounted for.” Taxpayers’ dollars crossed over into the activities fund this past school year to bring it back to zero after COVID and other factors had impacted the fund to a negative balance. Having fiscal oversight into this account is one of the many fiduciary duties of the school district.
An investigatory audit does just that – it looks into the current procedures being conducted at all levels, but it will also offer guidance for the district on how to improve current practices in handling things like cash and provide more oversight and trust that the amounts reported in those funds are accurate.
At this point, the potential discrepancies warrant a closer inspection by an outside source to bolster everyone’s confidence to make sure that dollars in the activity fund are going where they are designated to be going – to help with supporting the numerous student activities at Lisbon Schools.