Committee Report | April 2012

Report of

REGENTS AUDITS/BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE

to

The Board of Regents

April 24, 2012

The Regents Committee on Audits/Budget and Finance met as scheduled this morning, April 24, 2012.  Vice Chair Bendit, Chancellor Tisch, Regents Brown, Cottrell, Jackson, Phillips, Tallon, Tilles, and Young were in attendance.

Chair’s Remarks:  Regent Chapey welcomed everyone and stressed the important role budget, finance, and auditing plays and will continue to play in this challenging economy and through the implementation of the Reform Agenda.

Items for Discussion

Presentation by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA)

The Committee was briefed on the provision of mandatory school board member training.  All school board members are required to have six hours in fiscal oversight training as well as training related to the powers, functions, and duties of board of education.  In addition to the mandatory training, NYSSBA also provides other training to school board members. NYSSBA represents almost 700 school boards and is also one of the training providers.

Completed Audits

The Committee was presented with 5 audits this month. One audit was conducted by the Office of Audit Services and 4 by the Office of the State Comptroller.  All of the audits were of school districts.  One audit examined compliance with the Employment Preparation Education program, the others focused on budgeting, claims process, and a follow-up audit.

March 2012 Fiscal Report

Our Executive Deputy Commissioner briefed the Committee members.  The report provided is for the period ending March 31, 2012, the end of the state fiscal year. The Department will continue to spend funds from that year for a short period of time. The presentation of the 3020a teacher tenure hearing will be modified in future fiscal reports to reflect recently passed legislation.

April 24, 2012