More questions after new potential surplus estimated in East Ramapo school district
School board members were perplexed during a meeting this week as they learned the district’s surplus may have ballooned to $90 million.
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New potential findings about East Ramapo School Districts Financials are raising questions and eyebrows.
School board members were perplexed during a meeting this week as they learned the district’s surplus may have ballooned to $90 million.
A district assistant superintendent said one reason for the surplus was that they spent less on salaries than originally projected.
Many school board members want answers and spoke up.
"Moving forward, I just hope that those who are in position working on these budgets every year is paying attention not only to the numbers, but to the formula and making sure we're doing things correctly," said school board member Sabrina Charles-Pierre.
"Since we've been told we're in a deficit, now we're not in a deficit. I personally, I think the board would agree that we need to see a breakdown," said school board member Sherry McGill.
Watch the full meeting here.
Over the years, News 12 reported about state monitors warning of financial deficits.
This past November, an outside auditor discovered more than $30 million the previous year had not been spent.
As a result, the state Education Department referred the budget issues to the state comptrollers' office, which began conducting a review in January.
School district officials hope to get the comptroller's report soon.
