Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Mercer — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has officially closed the Fund 80 oversight case against the Mercer School District, according to reports at Monday’s school board meeting.
A letter to the Mercer School District from Daniel Bush, director of School Financial Services for the DPI, stated that documentation was submitted on time for both years and the SFS team review is now complete. The review was a requirement of the May 8, 2019 settlement agreement with the DPI, concerning the Mercer School District’s Community Service Fund (Fund 80) activities, which included a corrective action plan on maintenance and submission of Fund 80 eligibility documentation for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years.
“The SFS Team has no further comments on the documentation and considers the settlement agreement fulfilled,” Bush said in the letter. “We also wish to recognize the district’s cooperation in our review of the documentation and other matters over the past two years and look forward to continuing this collaborative relationship.”
The agreement followed a 2019 DPI audit of Mercer School District fund accounts that discovered categorical errors that technically violated guidelines for appropriate public use of public school facilities or operations, according to previous meeting information. A $37,215 settlement agreement followed, the amount being the outstanding remainder of the Fund 80 matter, and required compliance oversight for two fiscal years.
“I am very happy to announce that we have completed all of the requirements set forth by the DPI and they have officially closed our Fund 80 oversight,” said school district administrator Sheri Kopka at the meeting.
Tricia Thompson, school district finance officer, worked with hundreds of documents over the two year process and the work is now completed, Kopka said. An additional special education compliance matter that required an oversight period was also closed within the past month, she said.
“We are completely done with all DPI compliance and oversight at this time,” Kopka said. “It is a great place to be in being compliant and moving forward in the right direction.”