The Manteca Unified School District might have a fiscal challenge on the horizon as they work to figure out how they’re going to pay for the space for thousands of new students expected to flow onto their campuses over the next 20 years.
But their current financials – from their ongoing expenditures to their bond repayments – are all squared away for the time being.
Last week, an accountant from the firm of Vavrinek, Trine, Day and Co. – a Pleasanton-based certified public accounting firm – informed the Board of Education that all financial statements viewed during an audit “present fairly” and presented the final auditors report that detailed how “respective changes in financial position and, where applicable, cash flows thereof for the year then ended in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.”
In order to get a realistic picture of the district’s finances and their business dealings, the outside auditor – which reaffirmed the numbers that administration presented to the board at the end of the last fiscal year – viewed the “financial statements of the governmental activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information” of the district for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2017.
And one thing that the audit showed was that the cost of instruction for the district rose between the 2016 and 2017 calendar years – from $182.4 million in 2016 to $195.2 million last year – while the net cost of services also increased from $155.7 million in 2016 to $190.1 million last year.
And they have less money than they did a year ago.
The audit notes that the combined fund balance of $159.1 million at the end of the last fiscal year marked a $6.7 million decrease from the previous year based on numbers and analysis that were provided to the auditors by district management.
And their financial standing may have a lot to do with smart budgeting and planning.
According to the district’s numbers, there was expected decrease in net position of approximately $7.8 million from the general fund, and while revenues were $7 million less than planned for, expenditures were $28 million less over the course of the last fiscal year.
But the district did increase its overall debt obligation over the course of the last fiscal year by 20 percent. According to the report, Manteca Unified ended the 2016 fiscal year with $342.3 million in long-term debt outstanding, and that amount increased to $377.5 million last year.
Based on the State of California’s formula for acceptable general obligation bond debt, Manteca Unified currently has $157,239,885 outstanding, which means that they have an available bonding capacity of $182,684,004.
The only finding that was included In the report noted that “internal controls for Lathrop High School ASB do not appear to effectively use revenue potential forms” and that training the ASB Clerk on this process would eliminate any issues.
Corrective actions that were required as a result of the audit include reclassifying a reimbursement submission from nutrition services that was mislabeled, updating two free and reduced student lunch applications that were missing, changing the designation of $230,000 in checks received by nutrition services from “accounts payable” to “checks.”

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.