BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Nearly $200,000 was embezzled from the St. Landry Parish school system during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, according to an audit released Monday.

The audit, performed by the accounting firm Kolder, Slaven and Co. LLC and released by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office, reported that multiple fraudulent checks totaling $187,839 were written on the school board’s cash accounts.

The school board recovered $101,850 during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, and the remaining $85,989 in September 2024, auditors said.

In his report, the independent auditor noted that the school board had multiple instances of missing or misappropriated assets across several schools during the fiscal year, including missing or stolen equipment, such as laptop computers, a camera and a musical instrument.

Also, a cash-handling policy violation during a home athletic event at Beau Chene High School resulted in an estimated loss of $325. Restitution has been made, auditors said.

The auditor also found that the School Board failed to reconcile its interfund accounts on a regular and timely basis.

Going forward, the school board expects to see many changes due to economic factors, auditors said. Several of the economic factors considered in planning for the future include:

• Significant decrease in revenue due to the end of ESSER funding.
• Legislative changes that directly impact public school systems.
• Continued volatility in overall costs due to continued fluctuations in the economy.
• Continued decreases in Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) Funding due to decreases in student count.
• Decrease in overall staff count and facilities to mirror the decline in student count.
• The continued increase in sales tax revenue due to inflation and new businesses.

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