Audit: Island School in Great Shape
By Karen Gould

Mackinac Island Public School’s fund balance, at $1.1 million, is enough to operate the facility for the entire year, auditors reported at the Thursday, November 17 meeting of the Mackinac Island Board of Education. At the end of its last fiscal year on June 30, reported Kari Kortz, a certified public accountant with Rehmann Robson of Cheboygan, the fund balance was up by $212,560 from the previous year.

The increase in revenues is attributed to Saving Paradise funding, increased property taxes, and a decrease in projected expenditures because the school did not fill a special education teaching position.

“Your fund balance is substantial compared to other school districts,” Ms. Kortz said. “Your fund balance is very close to covering an entire year’s worth of expenditures. If you did not receive any money next year, you’d still be operating out of the fund balance.”

Mackinac Island operates a k-12 school with a budget of about $1.2 million. It has 81 students.

Ms. Kortz said other districts in the area that Rehmann Robson audits have only between five and 26 percent of a year’s operating costs in their fund balances.

The school district also was able to decrease its total debt by $76,781 during the fiscal year, to $2,255,000.

The auditor’s report noted one reportable condition, but did not consider it a material weakness: “Due to staff size, there is limited segregation of duties over cash receipts and disbursements and the recording of these transactions. The District recognizes this risk, but no change will be implemented because the costs would exceed the benefits.”

Superintendent Jack Dehring provided his state of the school update to board members, sharing with them information about a new video resource the school will be using. The Internet-delivered service allows for easy access to thousands of educational videos that can be previewed by teachers and easily downloaded, eliminating the need to wait weeks for mail delivery.

Teachers are able to show the videos either on computers in the computer laboratory or digitally through a television or projector. Mr. Dehring said the videos include lesson plans and follow-up lessons, and he said some videos can be used to teach multiple lessons.

The school will give its old computers to students who do not have home computers. Mr. Dehring is preparing them with free software from the Internet.

Several old laptop computers will also be available through the school’s good deeds program, where students earn tokens for being on the honor roll, performing good deeds, or earning good grades in class. The tokens are then used at an auction, where students can bid on prizes.

Mr. Dehring told board members that a Michigan Department of Education proposal for a state-wide credit program for graduation probably will be implemented and could require up to 16 specific class credits for high school graduation. Currently, the state requires one semester of civics for graduation, allowing local school districts to set other requirements.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan is recommending more credits, including four mathematics, four language arts, three social studies, three science, one health and physical education, and one fine arts and music credit.

Mr. Dehring said the requirement the Island school might have the most difficulty meeting would be the fine arts credit, since the school does not have a fine arts instructor.

“I believe what we have in place right now, as far as numbers of credits, is probably higher that what they are looking at,” said Mr. Dehring. He will prepare a report for the board by the next meeting.

Mr. Dehring also reported that new legislation could allow school districts to buy insurance as a group to help lower rates. He said such a practice is currently against the law.

“The more money we can save, the more money we can spend on kids,” he said.

The school board next meets Thursday, December 22, at 6 p.m. at the school library.