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With the approach of May school budget votes, districts are under pressure to provide residents with a clearer picture of how they’re handling their finances.
The push for greater transparency comes from the state comptroller’s office, which recently conducted its first review of how school budgets and related documents are presented on district websites. The inquiry covered a random sample of 13 districts statewide, including Island Trees and Rockville Centre on Long Island, and revealed several shortcomings.
State examiners concluded, for example, that six of the districts failed to post details of their proposed budgets in a transparent manner. Ten districts did not post results of audits conducted by the comptroller’s office or outside accounting firms, as required by state regulations.
Island Trees was faulted, for example, for not posting an audit of an activities fund in the proper location, while Rockville Centre did not post a corrective action plan related to another audit. In both cases, the two districts indicated they would avoid such oversights in the future.
Nor was fiscal data always readily available. State examiners pointed to a website maintained by the Beacon City school district in the lower Hudson Valley, where residents seeking reports on year-end revenues and expenditures would have had to comb through board meeting agendas to find the data.
"Often, required and important financial information was not posted or posted in hard-to-find locations," stated a report from a comptroller’s unit headed by Julie Landcastle, a chief examiner. "Therefore, taxpayers and other interested parties did not have readily available information to make informed decisions."
Most districts involved in the state’s review agreed to go along with the agency’s recommendations. A few, however, questioned the fairness of criticizing districts for practices that had not been subject to scrutiny in the past.
If they do steel the money and do it with tax what do they spend it on and where does it go to? Do the people take it from ythe teachers and it is supposed to pay them? It is criminals and they do get the money to things like drugs and gangs? I do not kmow how it works and want to kn ow amnd how it can be better for the children.
Long Island schools have gained a $400 million-plus windfall of state and federal financial aid for the 2021-22 fiscal year, with local officials saying Wednesday that the record funding hike will go a long way in easing the academic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total dollar assistance to public pre-K-12 education in Nassau and Suffolk counties is due to rise by 13% next year, to a total of more than $3.6 billion. Figures were provided by Albany lawmakers, who on Wednesday approved a statewide budget and school-aid package.
The package includes double-digit aid increases to scores of districts across this region, including a 29.19% raise for Glen Cove, 29.18% for South Huntington, 20.24% for Hempstead and 16.44% for Brentwood. Also included are millions of dollars for new and expanded public preschool programs, both regionally and statewide.
The flood of new school money, provided through a combination of higher state taxation and federal stimulus funding, was in marked contrast to warnings of potential cutbacks issued just months ago. In August, aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had said they might have to withhold 20% of aid to districts due to uncertain cash flow.
In August, aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had said they might have to withhold 20% of aid to districts due to uncertain cash flow.
Not clear if your purposely are trying to take things out of context or lack critical reading skills- genuinely concerned and not trying to be a jerk.
Reread that line you just quoted - he was preparing due to the lack of uncertainty and a definite lack of funding, but because circumstances have changed - there is now a surplus that will be distributed to new programs and funding for specific school districts. This would be the other way to read the quoted statement. The timeline matters, just as well as the statements.
Your lack of critical reading reaffirms the need to invest in education and not less. So this is actually a great thing if you have kids or will have kids...high five!!!
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