The East Ramapo School Board president is calling the state's appointment of a fiscal monitor an "act of bigotry."

The New York state education commissioner appointed the fiscal monitor to review the board's spending.

East Ramapo School Board President Yehuda Weismmandl says the board has undergone numerous financial reviews from the state, and claims that the monitor will just enflame existing prejudices.

A long-standing controversy has been simmering in the district, where the board is dominated by Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. While most of the board's children attend private religious schools, they oversee the education of mostly minority students in the public system.

Weissmandl says the board will cooperate fully with the state-appointed fiscal monitor, as long as the person only serves in an advisory capacity.

Proponents of the state monitor say they want to know where every dime is going, but they also want someone to look at exactly how the board governs.