The School Board met for its regular meeting on November 19, 2025, The 2024-2025 Fiscal Year Audit for Osakis Public School, performed by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP was presented to the Board and Administration.
A copy of the audit presentation can be found here
Clean, Unmodified Audit
Becca Nielsen, CPA, Manager, from CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA) summarized the 2024-2025 Fiscal Year audit, “We issued [the District] an unmodified opinion, which is considered a clean opinion, it is the highest level of assurance that we can give as auditors.”
Nielsen reported: “We found 3 material weaknesses…the same as in the prior year”
Financial Statement Preparation - The District has CLA prepare its financial statements because it doesn’t have an internal accounting department.
Segregation of Duties - The District doesn’t have enough staff to guarantee independent processes in all areas.
Material Audit Adjustments - The District has CLA help make audit adjustments and journal entries based on their understanding of new accounting laws (GASB) - this year those were in areas such as technology contracts and long-term liability of staff's banked leave.
Nielsen reported these findings as common in almost all School Districts in Minnesota, “95% of my districts have these three findings…it’s just the reality of the district being small. You guys can’t hire the staff that are needed and don’t have the time to prepare the financial statements and those types of things.”
Fund Balance Growth and Financial Stability
Nielsen commended the District on its fund balance growth, “ The unassigned fund balance did increase, which is great to see. The District is doing good at reducing spending to increase that cushion in your unassigned fund balance.”
Board Treasurer, Jeff Kalpin asked “Is that similar to other districts, or is that better here?”
Nielsen answered, “Every single district I have presented at is seeing an increase in restricted fund balances, however very few districts have seen an increase in unassigned fund balance…that is a good sign.”
Enrollment and Revenue Growth
Nielsen noted that the District is in a unique position with its enrollment and revenue growth: “Very few districts are seeing an increase in student enrollment.” “Your District had a net gain of 280 students - with 331 students opting in vs 51 students opting out.” “Overall, again, I haven’t been seeing that in many districts this year, most have been losing students. “Showing that you have a very strong District.”
The District was able to use increased revenue to provide pupil support in the form of a full-time School Resource Officer, mental health support professionals, and learning interventionists, in addition to making large capital investments in its transportation department.
Tricia Mages, School Board Member asked: “How is this compared to other Districts, are we typical?”
Nielsen answered: “Compared to the other districts I’ve seen, it is pretty similar, except your District might have a little more special education than other Districts, but that depends on the students enrolled in the District.”
In other business
The Board accepted Ryan Maddock’s, resignation from coaching girls varsity tennis with regret. Superintendent Justin Dahlheimer said the following regarding Ryan’s tenure:
“ I think it’s important to reflect on the success his program has had over the years’ he’s (and his family) invested in our girls’ tennis players. His resignation letter captures much of his gratitude for his student coaches and student athletes over his 23 years of coaching. It’s fitting that he’s most proud of the sportsmanship his tennis players exhibited over the years, as I would say that’s a direct reflection of the way he coached. Ryan’s been in a competitive section his entire career, definitely had good teams that would have advanced in other sections, and he always gave credit to the teams and players that moved on, whether they were Silverstreaks or not. That maturity and perspective has undoubtedly given more to his student athlete’s lives than the excuses, blaming, etc that we often see in the heat of competition. Those lessons are the reason we have school sports and I appreciate that he kept it the focus of his coaching. We hope we can continue that legacy and culture.”
Policies 1st reading, Policy #533: Wellness
The Board discussed the impact of the Paid Family Medical Leave and Employee Sick and Safe Time on district classroom coverage, with a focus of future meetings on improving compensation to substitute teachers to help increase the District’s ability to attract and keep the best substitute teachers possible.
Reports were given by our student school board representative, High School Principal, Elementary Principal, and our Activities Director.
February 10, 2026 Referendum Information
The Board was updated that information on the February 10, 2026 Building Bond Referendum is currently in the process of being communicated out to the community. It was recommended (and approved) that the following vendors providing communications support would be engaged during the run up to the election date:
Printed materials support
Video support
Website improvements
These contracts total approximately $18,000 of additional support to the District Office Staff.
The Board discussed the communication plan for the upcoming referendum. Throughout December there will be an awareness campaign, taking advantage of the business in the building with performances and events to get information out. Throughout January, there will be opportunities for community members to get answers to questions, or clarification on that information.
There will be a Career and Technical Education Day on December 17th, where the District will be hosting Luke Greiner from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, to help inform our students, staff, and community about the regional job trends, the jobs most needed by our local area, to show how the workforce training element is vital in our school and a core component of our desire to expand our career and technical education space. Community members should stay tuned for more details on that date–the staff and students are planning tours of the spaces with demonstrations of how those spaces are used, followed by a presentation from Luke.
As a reminder, early voting for the referendum will begin on December 26, 2025, with ballots available at the District Office. Detailed hours for early voting will be posted on the District’s website as soon as they are finalized.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 6:00pm for the Truth in Taxation meeting. The District will be setting their annual levy based on recommendations made from the Board Finance Committee and feedback from the public.