The North Shore School District was granted a AA1 Moody rating, which was shared with the Board of Education at its meeting Thursday night when the district’s audit report was delivered.

Alan Yu, a partner at Cullen and Danowski, LLP, said the firm audited the district’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30. He confirmed that his role is a reporting position of the district’s financial statements, which is required by law, not to provide suggestions such as a consultant would do.

Yu provided an unmodified audit opinion on the district’s financial statements, meaning there is no modification needed to the existing statements.

The North Shore School District was awarded an AA1 Moody rating, the second-highest financial rating offered. This means the district was rated as high quality with a very low credit risk, which Yu said is the best outcome for a school district in New York State.

Yu said the yearly expenditures came out to about $116 million with outstanding encumbrances of around $1 million. He said the district expended and encumbered nearly 99% of its budget.

“I am involved in auditing 15 school districts as well as assisting three other school districts in terms of their year-end accounting, and very, very few school districts would hit this 99% mark,” Yu said.

Yu said this is important because reaching this percentage is a benchmark that indicates whether or not a school district’s budget is “reasonable.”

“So if you’ve spent 99% of your budget, then you’ve done a really good job in terms of budgeting,” Yu said.

He said it could also be argued that the budget is tight as it is not accommodating to unexpected expenses for the school district.

The general fund ended the fiscal year with an operating surplus of $1.2 million, Yu said, yet this surplus is part of the settlement with LIPA. He said it is therefore not viewed as general revenues, but an extraordinary item.

“It’s been presented that way to show that you really can’t count on this money to be there every year, and certainly by the 23-24 fiscal year the installment is already down to $750,000,” Yu said.

Yu said the district’s revenues totaled $117.8 million, greater than what was budgeted but does include $2 million from the LIPA settlement, $1 million grant from a state senator and increased interest revenue due to rising interest rates.

Yu said the district ended the year with a total fund balance of $23.9 million, about 20.5% of the district’s total spending.

The North Shore Board of Education is also reviewing three school policies regarding the concerns about the district’s curriculum or instructional material, how district community members can express those concerns and the procedure for addressing those concerns.

Christopher Zublionis, superintendent of the district, said the purpose of the policy review is to tweak language and clarify processes.

The board will vote on the policy changes at its next meeting.

In other news, the North Shore Board of Education was recognized for School Board Recognition Week with words of appreciation, student performances and gifts provided to the board members.

Zublionis thanked the board for the dedication and support they have provided to the school district.

“They bring such a diverse set of skills, diverse set of knowledge and experience and that diversity and those diverse opinions make us better and make this community better,” Zublionis said. “We’re so grateful for that as employees of the district, but also for our students who always come first in the eyes of this board and there’s no question about that ever.”

The North Shore Board of Education will convene again at 7:45 p.m. on Nov. 9 at the Glenwood Landing Auditorium.