St. Louis Public Schools was due to submit their 2023 audit to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by December 31st of 2023. KMOX has confirmed that St. Louis Public Schools has still not submitted their audit and as a result, state funding is being withheld. A spokesperson with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says that amount totals up to $3,665,808.
At a St. Louis Public Schools Audit Committee meeting a month ago, Renita Duncan with Rubin Brown, the accounting firm conducting the audit, said a number of experienced employees who left or retired has made it more difficult for S-L-P-S to give them the necessary materials to conduct their audit.
"Primary cause in my opinion, turnover and some retirements of key individuals in the finance office and in accounting."
Duncan said in the meeting when they met with SLPS in the fall, the district did not have enough materials ready to keep her team busy.
"So what we said was, we need to pull out of the field, give you guys some time to get ready." Duncan added, "I have them listed here but there were four individuals [with SLPS] with decades and decades of institutional knowledge."
At that same meeting, St. Louis Public Schools CFO Angie Banks says the withheld state funding is not impacting their ability to operate. However the withheld funding has grown by over $1.1 million since those comments were made.
Duncan said in the meeting their goal was to submit the audit by the end of the month. That self imposed deadline has passed and still today the state has not received the school district's audit.
Duncan also suggested SLPS ask the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for an extension. In a statement to KMOX, a spokesperson for DESE says "there is no extension to the statutory deadline, and one was not requested by SLPS for any extenuating circumstances."
DESE says they will continue to withhold the state funding from the school district until they receive their audit. According to the DESE spokesperson, once they receive the SLPS audit, DESE will release all held payments.
KMOX requested a comment from SLPDS, the following is the one line statement we received: The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) will be presented at tomorrow's (Tuesday) board meeting after which it will be posted on the website and delivered to DESE if it is approved.
