Slippery Rock School District was overpaid $59,588 by the state, according to a recent audit report, and a school official said this will not affect the budget.

According to previous reports, the overpayment came as a result of a few mistaken categorizations of students during this year's regularly scheduled audit. Several students were listed as “foster,” or non-resident students, by mistake.

According to Paul Cessar, business manager of the school district, the issue will be corrected by the state withholding the funds from non-resident student subsidy.

“The students who were incorrectly listed as non-resident students, the funds we received from the state will be put in the basic education subsidy instead,” Cessar said. “We will get subsidized for those students.”

Cessar also said that the money from the state was not spent, and did not affect the budget.

Cessar said the categorization process begins at the school building and flows to multiple departments within the district.

“The categorization process can flow to two or three different departments, the business office being one of them,” Cessar said.

According to a release by the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General, it was found that the district failed to implement an internal control system regarding non-resident students. The school district plans to take more preventative measures by training its staff appropriately.

“We'll continue to seek out opportunities for ongoing training in these areas about what qualifies (a student),” Cessar said.