Auditors and district finance staff told the Cypress‑Fairbanks Independent School District board on Nov. 6 that the annual comprehensive financial report will carry the audit firm’s highest level of assurance.

“We will be rendering an unmodified opinion on the financial statements,” Greg Peterson, audit partner with Wever & Tidwell, said during the work session as he presented the draft report and the status of the federal single audit.

Peterson said the federal single-audit portion remains in draft because the Office of Management and Budget’s compliance supplement was delayed; once that final guidance is released the firm will finalize the single-audit report.

District presenters highlighted key figures from the comprehensive financial report: for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, the general fund recorded total revenues of about $1.15 billion and total expenditures of about $1.17 billion, producing a $27 million deficit on the statement of revenues and expenditures; the district’s net change in fund balance was reported as an $11.1 million deficit and a June 30 ending fund balance of approximately $549.6 million.

Board members discussed how the district reduced the budgetary gap. One trustee noted administrators identified roughly $9.3 million saved from lower payroll costs tied to unfilled positions; staff cautioned that vacancy-driven savings are temporary and that filling those positions in a tighter labor market will increase future expenditures.

Administrators also explained the district used available disaster‑related state aid (“disaster pennies”) that boosted revenue in the reported year; trustees discussed the tradeoffs of one-time revenue versus ongoing staffing needs.

Trustees pressed finance staff on liquidity and bond‑rating implications. Finance staff said the district held about 5.5 months of operating reserves as of June 30, 2025, and explained that rating agencies generally look for a minimum of roughly 3–4 months of fund balance for districts with a June 30 fiscal year end. A district staff figure cited one month of expenditures as about $97.8 million.

During the public hearing on the district’s financial accountability, Amanda Boles said CFISD earned the highest FIRST rating of A, Superior Achievement, for the 2023–24 fiscal year, scoring 98 of 100 available points on scored indicators. Boles highlighted CFISD’s administrative cost ratio of about 3.67%, well below comparable large districts and the thresholds TEA uses to flag concern.

What’s next: administrators said the comprehensive financial report and the final single-audit (when complete) will be brought back to the board for formal acceptance. The public hearing on the FIRST rating and the audit materials fulfilled the district’s statutory notice requirements.