District receives clean audit during uncertain times
Neshannock Township School District Administration was able to successfully navigate significant financial hurdles and deliver a balanced budget while also providing uninterrupted access to education for students during the pandemic. This was a particularly noteworthy task considering the District received less than 1/20th of pandemic relief funds that other schools received. The funds each District received were determined by a formula calculated by the Federal Government. According to public information available on education.pa.gov, a five county comparison of each school district in Butler, Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer, and Venango Counties indicates that Neshannock joins only two other districts within the five county comparison receiving the least amount of State and Federal Funds. Additional research determined that Neshannock is ranked third highest out of the same number of schools for expense per student, further indicating that the District is maximizing the reach of each dollar spent.
Board Member, Mr. Michael Vatter commented, “We are truly fortunate to have a team of administrators who understand their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers and the Community. We continue to make meaningful investments to our facilities, recently completing a complete air quality project that focuses on the health and wellbeing of our students and faculty. Equally, we are vigilantly upgrading our technology to keep our students well trained and prepared for the future. When meeting with the Board of School Directors, the administrative team not only comes prepared with wonderful new programs for the students, but they also have meaningful projections and plans for how we can afford them and the impact they will have. In my opinion, that is what makes this District so great, their ability to plan and execute and keep us moving forward.”
Every school district across the country is experiencing new and rising expenses related to their response to Covid. Neshannock incurred expenses related to on-going elevated cleaning and sanitation of the buildings, various staff additions associated with virtual offerings to accommodate increased staff and/or student absenteeism related to the pandemic, and other building enhancements such as hand sanitizing stations. NTSD provided in-person, hybrid, virtual, and full-time cyber school options for students during the 2020-2021 school year. Neshannock Online Campus, a full-time cyber school for students in all grade levels, remains an extension of the District. Maintaining this in-house cyber program has resulted in a savings over $500,000 – this year alone – from outside cyber charter school tuition.
On Monday, February 7, 2022, the Board of Directors of Neshannock School District received the findings of their annual financial audit for the 2020-21 school year conducted by the CPA firm of Philip Weiner and Company Ltd. It was the rendered opinion of the firm that Neshannock satisfactorily discharged and completed all of their obligations and they had no findings of discrepancies or recommendations to report. In all, it was another successful audit passed by Neshannock. Mr. William Houser, auditor, stated that it was a “clean audit.” The District continues to operate a balanced budget and has had no deficit spending since 2015.
Superintendent, Dr. Terence Meehan stated that the District closely evaluates every expense. “While maintaining academic excellence with progressive programs, we continue to work diligently to remain within the bounds of our budget. We never lose sight of the dependency on our local tax base.”
The NTSD Board of School Directors wishes to thank the Philip Weiner Company and recognizes the significant efforts of Superintendent, Dr. Terence Meehan; Business Manager, Mr. Justin DiMuccio; the entire Administration; and faculty and staff.
New Castle News Article, February 17, 2022: “Neshannock Receives Clean Audit”