La. budget cut killed Monroe schools check

State budget cuts made last year eliminated funds that the Monroe City School District previously used to fund an extra check for teachers.

Superintendent Brent Vidrine said principals had been warned that the check, which were distributed in January last year, would not be coming. Board President Rodney McFarland said he and other board members received calls from school employees who thought the decision to kill the check was made by the board or the administration.

CFO DaVona Howard said state budget cuts affected $900,000 in non-Minimum Foundation Program Funding, which the district had used to create a spare check for teachers. In addition to the money from the state, the district historically generated a small supplement for classified employees using local funds that was disbursed at the same time.

Howard said employees also receive two other supplement checks generated by local taxes.

Read more: $29M proposed cut hits K-12 education

Students of the year honored

Three top-performing students were honored as the Monroe City Schools Students of the Year: Zaire Rivers, a fifth-grader at J. S. Clark Elementary; Anna Grace Hansen, an eighth-grader at Lee Junior High; and Darius Washington, a senior at Neville High.

Rivers is a gifted student. She's a member of the National Honor Society, student council and the J.S. Clark Choir. Her hobbies include piano, dance, reading and playing with her dolls. She is the daughter of Sylvia and Freddy Rivers.

Hansen is a straight-A student. She will attend Neville High School next year and plans to pursue a career in the medical field. She is captain of the cheer team, plays softball and dances competitively. Hansen is a member of the National Honor Society and Beta Club, and she volunteers at several places. She is the daughter of Adam and Julie Hansen.

Washington earned a perfect score on the ACT. He plans to major in computer science and mathematics at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is a member of the Neville Quiz Bowl Team, which will compete in national competition this summer. He is a member of the National Honor Society and a charter member of Neville's Youth Summer Leadership Group and a longstanding member of the school's Renaissance program. Washington recently was named one of the Top 20 Tigers in the class of 2017. He is the son of Marish and Sonia Washington.

Read more: Monroe teen gets perfect ACT score

Audit review

J. Thomas Simms III of Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC presented the district's audit for the year ended June 30. He said there were no material weaknesses found. The audit had four findings, and the management letter sent Dec. 22 offered one suggestion. Simms said the district is making progress on the findings and suggestion.

Technology-related contracts were awarded to a contractor with family or legal ties to the former director of the Management Information Services Department, which is prohibited legally. In the audit, Howard said the district is consulting legal counsel on the matter, and the auditors recommend that proper due diligence be carried out when choosing contractors.

The Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards should be prepared in accordance with Uniform Guidance. The schedule was not presented in accordance with requirements and was not reviewed and reconciled with the general ledger. Certain information was not updated from the prior year. The management's response stated the board will review the schedules in the future.

The auditors recommend that the board train additional employees to act as backups in case another is away from the office. Another finding was that account reconciliations and schedules should be reviews and carried out in a timely manner.

In the management letter, Simms said, two of the 60 employee accounts checked were not withholding for retirement. Vidrine said those were substitute teachers, and a process has been put in place to ensure retirement is withheld.

Any findings on the 2015 audit have been resolved.

The board is slated to elect 2017 officers at its next meeting on Feb. 7.

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