The Harrisburg School District’s administration building.
Coming off of several years of state-mandated oversight due to its financial instability, the Harrisburg School District earned praise Tuesday from an independent auditor who reviewed numbers from last year.
“It’s good news,” certified public accountant Carl Hogan told the Harrisburg School Board at its biweekly meeting. “You have a good start moving forward.”
The CliftonLarsonAllen consultant presented an audit of the district’s 2024-2025 finances, tracking metrics through June 30, 2025, the month the district exited state receivership.
The state-required audit found no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies.
By the Numbers
The district finished the year with $28.4 million in its general fund, up slightly from its starting balance of $25.9 million.
The auditor also praised the district for the $47.8 million it concluded with in its capital reserve fund, which is only to be used for future capital projects. It added about $13.2 million to the capital reserve fund during the year.
“Like I said, this is a great position to be in,” Hogan said, adding that the district’s biggest asset is its building portfolio and grounds.
“To be able to have those reserves on hand to be able to maintain those assets is a great asset,” he said.
Additionally, the audit noted the district has $7.8 million in its debt services fund, used to pay off school construction bonds issued in 2007-2008, and a little more than $48,000 in its school-sponsored activities fund.
Revenues and Expenditures
The CPA also noted Tuesday that over the past few years, the district’s local revenue sources, such as earned income tax, transfer taxes and investment earnings have been better than expected.
“In the current year, your local source revenues were $3.5 million better than anticipated,” Hogan said of the 2024-2025 audit.
Hogan added that the district had budgeted $213 million in expenditures for the school year and came in at $204 million, leaving a $9 million variance that could be explained by a number of chronically open positions.
“The school district continues to still struggle with filling certain positions within the school district,” Hogan explained. “There’s still vacancies. It’s no doubt better than it was the past couple years, but a lot of these expenditures that are less than budgeted are primarily related to vacancies that the school district would like to fill.”
Calendars for the Future
In line with a new, proactive effort to provide the Harrisburg community with dates for school events farther in advance, the school district also presented a first look at calendars Tuesday night for its next two school years, 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
Superintendent Benjamin Henry noted that the creation of the calendars involved a committee of administrators, teachers and families.
“As we move forward, this is something that we want to continue to do, is engage our community when we develop on our calendar,” Henry said.
Board president Roslyn Copeland noted that she was glad to see that graduation did not conflict with Juneteenth on the calendars, which had evoked concerns from community members in the past.
The proactive move was praised by board vice president Autumn Anderson.
“I love seeing that we are planning things out in advance, so that families can plan around the different activities—and that can increase engagement with families for many of our different events,” Anderson said.
Board Retreat, Property Taxes and More
Copeland also noted Tuesday that the board had held a retreat on Saturday, Jan. 17 to discuss the district’s financial projections and 2025-26 budget scenarios as well as real estate matters with the district solicitor.
The board also approved the installation of bathroom security grills at Harrisburg High School’s John Harris Campus ($49,697), which will be done by the job order contractor Gordian.
The board also approved three NJROTC field trips, greenlighting Harrisburg High’s team to compete in drill meets in Delaware and Maryland over the next few months.
It also voted not to raise property taxes by more than 5.4% for the 2026-2027 school year.
Eight of nine board members attended the meeting, which convened virtually due to snow. Board member Terricia Radcliff was absent.
For more information on the Harrisburg School District, visit www.hbgsd.us.
If you like what we do, please support our work. Become a Friend of TheBurg!
