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THE STATE
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY
OF THE STATE OF |
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TO: |
Full Board |
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FROM: |
Jean C. Stevens |
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SUBJECT: |
Status Report on Roosevelt Union Free |
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DATE: |
March 13, 2007 |
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STRATEGIC
GOAL: |
Goals 1 and 2 |
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AUTHORIZATION(S): |
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SUMMARY
Issue for Information
Monthly status report on key
issues for the
Reason(s) for Consideration
Requested by members of the Board
of Regents.
Proposed Handling
For information.
Procedural
History
Not applicable.
Background
Information
Section 1 of the statute authorizes the Commissioner of Education to
appoint and supervise the superintendent of schools; he may disapprove the
appointments of assistant or associate superintendents, building principals and
other school administrators and supervisors, including tenure appointments.
Furthermore, the Commissioner exercises fiscal and educational program
oversight. The interim BOE must provide a five-year education plan with annual
updates and a five-year financial stabilization plan for the district, which
shall ensure that revenues and expenditures are in balance. The interim BOE must also provide the
Board of Regents with periodic updates of the educational progress of the school
district.
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the
Regents review the attached status report and SED/Roosevelt monthly meeting
agenda that provides information on the operations and oversight of the
·
Attachment A: SED Status
Report on Roosevelt Union Free
·
Attachment B: Roosevelt School
District/SED Monthly Meeting Agenda, February 9, 2007.
Timetable for
Implementation
Not applicable.
Attachments
ATTACHMENT A
SED STATUS REPORT ON ROOSEVELT UNION FREE
This item provides information regarding six areas of continued Department focus during this reporting period.
1. State Education Department (SED) Oversight and Support
The State Education Department continues to provide ongoing and sustained oversight of the Roosevelt Union Free School District (UFSD). A Department team, consisting of program, legal and fiscal staff, meets monthly with the Superintendent and his administrative cabinet. The February meeting was conducted on February 9, 2007. The agenda is developed each month with input from all members of the SED Roosevelt team and with the opportunity for input from the district. The agenda for the February 9, 2007 meeting is included in Attachment B.
In addition, during January/February/March 2007, State officials met with the Superintendent and members of his administrative cabinet and communicated regularly by phone and e-mail in order to advance the school district’s plan to address the budget deficit. The meeting held in the district on January 31, 2007 also included the school district attorney who provided information regarding the legal implications of contemplated staff reductions. This meeting resulted in a Phase I deficit reduction plan which was presented to the Board of Education on February 15, 2007 and approved. The Phase I reductions, which do not involve teachers or paraprofessional positions, will be effective March 15, 2007.
2. Interim Board of
Education
SED is working with the Superintendent and Roosevelt Interim Board to plan and implement professional development and orientation for Roosevelt Board of Education members. The Board of Education President will poll members to determine the most convenient time for such training. Initially, the focus of training will be financial issues and requirements of Chapter 33 of the Laws of 2002.
3.
Academic
The Roosevelt UFSD cabinet and SED have identified the development of a PreK-12 curriculum as a high priority. The Roosevelt UFSD has appointed staff from each building to serve as curriculum council members. Curriculum councils will serve as representatives to the curriculum committee that will develop the districtwide curriculum plan and work to ensure continuity across grade levels.
The district has also begun to identify a school planning team that will work on the development of a new Five-Year Education Plan. The first meeting of this team is scheduled for March 27, 2007 and will include representatives from the community, the Board of Education and district staff. SED representatives will also work collaboratively with Roosevelt UFSD staff on the development and revision of the Five-Year Education Plan.
The Roosevelt UFSD has timely submitted a Title I Corrective Action Plan in response to the SED Title I report and findings. Department staff is reviewing the district plan and will monitor implementation.
4.
Finance
The Department
continues to work closely and intensively with the district to prepare a deficit
reduction plan. In order to address the shortfall, the school district has
prepared and the Department approved Phase I of a deficit reduction plan. At the Board of Education meeting on
February 15, 2007, the Board approved Phase I of the deficit reduction plan. It
was determined that those staff affected by the Phase I plan will receive a
30-day notice. Phase II of the district reduction plan was also prepared, and
proposed reductions are scheduled to be acted upon at the March 22 Board of
Education meeting.
Additional alternatives that are being considered in order to further address the expenditure budget during the current and upcoming school years include: 1) additional grant funding; 2) special legislation to increase the contingency budget cap; and 3) establishment of a debt service fund to pay principal and interest on long-term debt. Although these alternatives help address the deficit, the district is still subject to the legal contingency budget cap. In the absence of additional grant funding or an increase in the budget cap, reductions will be required in order to be in compliance with the law.
On March 5, 2007, draft 1 of the
Finally, the Department has learned that the district missed a debt service payment that was due on December 15, 2006. Although the Depository Trust Company paid the bondholders on the district’s behalf, it was bond counsel’s opinion that this incident meets the Securities and Exchange Commission’s definition of a material event requiring disclosure. The fiscal administrator has recommended a procedure to help prevent a recurrence.
5. Audit
- Final Audit Report (SD-0205-5)
The school district is preparing a report on
the status of six remaining recommendations. The Office of Audit Services (OAS)
will analyze the information provided by the district and prepare a status
report for the Board of Regents.
- Data Audit
The Office of Audit Services completed field work on the audit of the reliability of the district’s data. A draft report has been issued. The district is given 30 days to respond to the draft. A final report will then be issued, including the district’s response as an appendix. At the conclusion of the audit, the report will be presented to the Board of Regents.
- State Comptroller
Audit
On March 6, 2007, the Office of
the State Comptroller (OSC) released its audit report pertaining to the
It is important to note that the State Education Department and the school district have already taken actions to improve the school district's financial performance and to address the budget deficit. SED has established and has updated a Master Calendar of fiscal and program requirements set for the district. (Because the school district was untimely in meeting requirements, intermediate due dates were added to the document in the fall of 2006.) In September 2006, a full-time Albany-based employee was assigned to provide oversight and technical assistance to the school district. Beginning October 2, 2006, the Department-appointed Fiscal Administrator has worked with school district personnel on-site in the district to address many of the items documented in the OSC report and to develop a realistic and balanced budget for 2007-08. State officials have also worked closely with the school superintendent to identify expenditure reductions and strategies to address the budget deficit. Most recently, Commissioner Richard Mills has communicated with State legislators to discuss possible strategies to address the current budget deficit.
In light of the findings and
recommendations provided by OSC, it has been determined that a more focused, a
more directive and a more targeted approach is called for. Therefore, the
following actions will be taken by the State Education Department, appropriate
branches of the University of the State of
On March 13,
2007, Commissioner Mills issued a Commissioner’s Order to the superintendent and
Board of Education that included a series of actions to reduce the
·
Ordered
the preparation of a 2007-08 budget that is in structural balance by April 2,
2007.
·
Named a
team of experienced school leaders to identify additional revenue enhancements
and spending reductions in both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 budgets. The team members are James Mapes,
District Superintendent, Nassau BOCES; Edward Zero, District Superintendent,
Eastern Suffolk BOCES; and William Brosnan, former superintendent of
Northport-East Northport UFSD who currently serves as Interim Director of the
Long Island Regional School Support Center. Commissioner Mills directed the
superintendent and Board of Education to cooperate fully with this team and with
Fiscal Administrator Jeffrey White.
·
Ordered
a new Five Year Financial Plan to restore financial stability within the
resources that can reasonably be expected to be available in
·
Directed
Fiscal Administrator Jeffrey White to determine that the following financial
controls are currently operational and sufficient, or to inform the Commissioner
so immediate improvements can be made:
o
Encumbrance of expenditures,
o
Every
purchase supported in advance by an approved purchase order,
o
Electronic system to block expenditures that
are unsupported by a budget line,
o
Balanced
budget with reasonable and supported revenues and expenditure projections, and
o
Regular
review of revenue and expenditure reports by senior administrators and the Board
of Education.
·
Assigned
James Viola, Regional Coordinator for School Improvement, to work in
·
Directed
Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education, Johanna Duncan-Poitier, to make an
expedited assessment of other actions and systems needed to produce improved
student achievement.
In addition, the Commissioner ordered actions
for new revenues and reductions and to tighten fiscal controls. These actions
include:
·
Ordered
more than $4.4 million thus far in
revenue enhancements and spending reductions.
Revenue enhancements ($3.45
million above the 2006/07
revenue budget)
o
Additional $1.3 million in unbilled foster care
revenues for the periods of 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05
o
$ 900,000 in additional income from property taxes
levied earlier in the year not previously recorded in the
budget
o
$1.25 million in additional interest income, largely from
proceeds of bonds.
Expenditure Reductions ($990,000
savings)
o
Expenditure reductions of $499,000 savings as specified in the
Commissioner’s Order.
o
Application of federal IDEA and Title I and
IIA grant funds from the prior year will save $ 491,000.
6. Construction
The Roosevelt UFSD construction update this month focuses on
·
Washington Rose Elementary
School
The move into the new
With completion of the new
- Middle School
A second public hearing on the
middle school land remediation is scheduled for March 28, 2007 in
A citizen participation plan is needed to inform the community about environmental issues impacting the middle school. DEC will assume responsibility for the citizen participation plan since the town and private residences are potentially involved.
SED will not allow the facility to be occupied unless agencies are confident the remediation was successfully completed as documented by test results. Construction will continue and is currently on schedule to be completed, potentially as early as December 2007.
The Department continues to review the total financial impact of the remediation of the middle school land and the building completion schedule. Once the full extent of the necessary remediation is known, the Department will have better information about the final schedule for occupancy of the middle school and the impact of cost of the middle school remediation project on the high school renovation project.