Submitted by Superintendent Dr. Patricia Sullivan Kowalski and the Regional School District 17 BOE Executive Committee
(October 20, 2026) — On October 13, 2026, the Regional School District 17 Board of Education held a special meeting to review the independent financial audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. The District received the audit findings on September 22, 2026. The October 13 special meeting was scheduled for the first available opportunity to meet with representatives from CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) LLP, the District’s independent auditing firm. This meeting provided the Board with an opportunity to receive a formal presentation of the findings, to ask questions, and to publicly discuss the results and next steps.
View the presentation slides, meeting minutes, or meeting recording. CLA’s executive summary included information on the District’s Financial Statements, Federal Single Audit, and State Single Audit.
● An unmodified opinion on financial statements, major federal programs, and major state programs. (According to the website Universal CPA Review, an unmodified opinion is what is otherwise known as a clean opinion.)
● For both the Federal Single Audit and the State Single Audit, there were no compliance findings or findings on internal control over compliance.
● On the Financial statements, there were two areas that needed to be restated from 2024.
● On the Financial statements, there were two Material Weaknesses and one Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Areas noted included journal entry review, lack of accounting office procedures, and general ledger maintenance.
The auditors identified several opportunities to strengthen financial procedures, improve efficiency, and reduce risk. These findings highlight areas where the District can improve its practices and oversight. The District acknowledges its responsibility to address organizational structures and capacities to build an effective finance function. This will require stable financial leadership and department staffing, along with the development of internal technical accounting expertise across all core departmental functions. Additionally, the District will ensure that operational procedures are established, effective, and documented, with internal controls embedded throughout. These controls must also include retained evidence of task completion.
Regional School District 17 is taking steps to strengthen its financial oversight, improve internal controls, and ensure accurate and transparent financial reporting. The District has hired a Financial Accounting & Reporting Manager and a new Director of Facilities, Safety and Security, and Transportation. These positions were restructured from existing unfilled positions to provide additional support to the Director of Finance, strengthen coordination between financial operations and facilities management, and allow for greater focus on each department’s responsibilities. The District is also rebuilding its internal finance staff, with a goal of completing the transition to directly hired employees by July 1, 2027. An experienced accounting consultant will continue supporting the District during this transition and through the current audit cycle.
Other steps include the following:
● Develop a comprehensive accounting manual, with procedures and checklists for major financial activities, monthly and year-end closing, and oversight of significant transactions. This work is expected to be completed by November 30, 2026.
● Strengthen the use of security features and audit tools in its existing accounting software and implement automated accounts payable processing to reduce manual work and the potential for errors. These improvements are planned by December 31, 2026.
● Implement ClearGov budgeting tools by November 15, 2026, to improve budget tracking and public transparency, and improve financial software and long-term document storage by July 1, 2027.
● The Finance and Facilities subcommittee will ensure accountability to the Superintendent’s plan through monthly updates about the success of its implementation.
● The District will engage in regular internal fraud risk assessments as a best practice recommendation.
Together, these actions are intended to establish more consistent procedures, clearer accountability, stronger financial controls, and more reliable financial information for the District and the community. The Board and District’s focus moving forward is on correcting identified concerns, maintaining strong financial controls, and ensuring responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars for the communities of Haddam and Killingworth.
