LFCISD Excels Financially

by Tony Vindell/LFN

If the success of a school district was to be scored by the way it handles its finances, the Los Fresnos school district would be at the top of the system.

However, educating its students is a top priority.

Nevertheless, the district’s finances are second to none.

That is how the latest audit report prepared by Patillo Brown & Hill, a certified public accounting firm, shows.
Carlos Cascos, a PBH accountant, told the board Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District, is in an excellent financial shape.

It has more than $25 million in its fund balance. Its expenditures of $14 million are below what the district has budgeted and had revenues of almost half a million dollars.

The audit report was for Fiscal Year 2017-18 that ended Sept. 30 and the board adopted a budget of $125.1 million for that year.

The new official budget for FY 2018-19 is of $114.3, although the figure might change after amendments are made.

For example, the 2017-18 budget was for $105.9 million and the amended budget was for $125.1 million.

LFCISD has 11,000 students at its 14 campuses and the district employs about 1,200 people.

Dr. Gonzalo Salazar, the district’s superintendent, said the student population has been steadily growing year after year.

Dr. Salazar said the Los Fresnos school district is the second largest geographical district in the Rio Grande Valley after the Edinburg school district.

“The student population has grown from 7,000 to 11,000 in the 12 years I have been here,” he said. “There is still room to grow.”

The district continues to excel, though.

Last year, for example, it received an A score from the Texas Public School Accountability System ratings, according to the Texas Educational Agency, or TEA.