The Highline School District (HSD) received a “Gold Star” on its financial audit, according to Board President Joe Van.
Van was referring to the result of a conference call with the Washington State Auditor (SAO). Each year, the SOA reviews the district for compliance regarding Federal Grant funding, Financial Integrity and Reporting, and Accountability. The Friday afternoon Audit Exit Conference addressed only the first two elements.
Results from the Accountability section will be addressed in approximately two weeks.
The SOA gave the HSD a “Clean with no modifications” assessment at the end of a 14-minute video call. Attendees include all the HSD Board Members except Angelica Alvarez. Alvarez was also absent without excuse on Wednesday.
The SOA congratulated the district on meeting the May 31 deadline for audit completion. This is the first time in several years that the HSD has met the deadline.
Burien.News sought to interview both President Van and district superintendent Ivan Duran to hear their thoughts on this very positive report; however, Communications Director Tove Tupper intervened. Highline School District has a policy that prohibits the press from speaking to elected officials or administrators.
SAO plans to publish the full report on the SOA website by Thursday: https://sao.wa.gov/about-sao/sign-news-alerts. Should anything unusual arise from the document, Burien.News will report.
Next year’s Federal Compliance and Financial Audit will occur in the winter of 2026.
We will announce Highline’s Accountability – Audit Exit Conference, coming in June.
(Photo of Highline Special Board Meeting for Audit Exit Conference on May 23, 2025. Credit Burien.News)
