Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

A recent financial audit of Hartland Consolidated Schools resulted in what's called an "unmodified" or "clean" opinion -- the best possible score for school districts.

"Hartland, like most districts in the state, had a pretty significant increase in fund balance during the COVID years as there was significant resources injected into educational programs around the country to really help build those financial reserves," Plante Moran's Jeff Higgins told trustees Monday night.

"For the last couple of years, you've been at or slightly above that state average percentage. So, a good healthy fund balance. The district has really done a nice job of maintaining and protecting its financial reserves and ensuring you have the fund balance and resources necessary to deal with any future unexpected surprises that may be out there."

A majority of funding comes from Lansing, with Hartland experiencing a decline in enrollment in recent years, like most districts statewide.

"This represents one of the many of the challenges that districts in the state face since the majority of revenue is through the state-allocated Foundation Allowance, and you really have no control over that number other than trying to just manage enrollment," Higgins said.

"When you have a declining enrollment, it just creates challenges to really maintain the same educational program when you have less resources coming in. That's where the fund balance helps deal with those types of challenges."

Superintendent Chuck Hughes and Board of Education members praised Chief Financial Officer Rachel Bois and her team for the dedication to ensuring the district is always thoughtful and deliberate with spending, and for ensuring that we continue to “right size” our expenditures.

Video of Monday night's meeting is linked below.