Audit shows Jackson School District good at managing money

The Jackson School Board was presented with good financial feedback from an independent auditor Tuesday night.

According to Darrell Songer, a representative of the St. Louis consulting firm Larson Allen, the district is doing an above-average job of managing its money.

"The district has done fine in financial and regulatory areas," Songer said.

The firm performed an audit of the 2010-2011 school year, which was later approved by the board.

The district did well managing all incoming local revenue and state and federal allocations as well as expenditures, according to Songer. He reported the federal audit had no findings, which he said is "not necessarily the way it is everywhere."

Although the district is in good financial shape, he advised the board to be conservative when budgeting in future years due to the tightening of educational funding nationwide. He also commended district staff, saying his requests for financial statements were handled well.

The board also heard an evaluation of the district's food service program from nutrition services coordinator Liz Aufdenberg.

Aufdenberg highlighted the use of the Farm to School Initiative, a section of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The law regulates nutrition in schools, and there are several new requirements in effect for the current school year, including: making free drinking water available where meals are served; charging students who pay full price for lunch and breakfast a price equal to the federal reimbursement for free meals minus the reimbursement for paid meals; allowing the USDA to set nutritional standards for all food regularly sold in schools including food from the cafeteria, vending machines and school stores; the setting of standards for school wellness policies; requiring that school districts be audited every three years with penalties for not meeting new meal pattern requirements; and requiring schools to make information on nutritional quality of meals more available to parents.

The initiative uses locally produced foods in school meals. The district also has been teaching students about gardening through work with the University of Missouri Extension and the Master Gardeners by starting a garden last year at South Elementary and having university extension staff teach a nutrition class.

Aufdenberg said using produce grown locally has worked well and that high school students seem to be taking more fruits and vegetables at meal times. Most vegetables served at the elementary schools, however, often go uneaten, she said.

"I hate to say it this way, but the garbage disposal still eats most of the vegetables at the elementary level," she said. Despite most students not eating their vegetables, about half will eat a chef salad when the option is served, she said.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

614 E. Adams St., Jackson, MO