
ӣƵ Public Schools Superintendent Millicent Borishade talks to a small group of parents and staff at a “Reimagining SLPS” presentation on Friday, March 14, 2025, at Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School in north ӣƵ.
ST. LOUIS — The required annual audit of ӣƵ Public Schools is expected to wrap up this week, more than four months after it was due to the state.
The district’s audit of fiscal 2024 is clean with a few recordkeeping lapses including a failure to keep an inventory of unused buildings, according to accounting firm RubinBrown.
“A lot of what you have going on in these uncorrected misstatements and these unreconciled balances relates to assets that are most likely fully depreciated,” said Renita Duncan, a partner in the firm.
Superintendent Millicent Borishade said an inventory was completed this year and will be available for the 2025 audit.
The discussion was held Monday during a closed session of the district’s audit committee that was livestreamed to YouTube and has since been removed. The SLPS board is expected to vote on the completed audit at its meeting Tuesday.
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This is the second straight year SLPS has failed to submit its financial audit on time to state and federal regulators.
State law requires school districts to be audited each fiscal year by third-party contractors. When a district misses the Dec. 31 deadline, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education withholds state funding until the audit is submitted. The districts will also be docked 1% on their annual performance reports that the state uses to determine accreditation levels.
Jennings and SLPS are among just four districts statewide that have failed to submit their 2024 audits, according to the education department. Jennings Superintendent Paula Knight could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The delays at SLPS were blamed on staff turnover and vacancies in the district’s finance department.
“Normally we’re having this discussion in November,” Duncan said Tuesday about the 2024 audit review.
Duncan told the audit committee that the firm will need to start its work on the 2025 audit next month.
“In order to be in a position to be done by the calendar year, we would like to start in June,” she said.
SLPS is still awaiting a comprehensive audit from Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who launched a review of the district last August following the ouster of former Superintendent Keisha Scarlett for questionable spending and hiring practices.
Millicent Borishade speaks about her commitment to ӣƵ Public Schools, during a press conference after being named the permanent superintendent by the ӣƵ Board of Education on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at Meramec Elementary School in ӣƵ. Video by Zachary Linhares, ӣƵ