Candidates, Finance Chair Calling For More Detailed School Financials

By John Voket

Two aspiring Board of Education candidates have joined the Board of Finance chairman calling for more detail and transparency in school district financial reports, particularly the year-end report that was issued in mid-August. Even a local aspiring political party borne from an education advocacy group is demanding detailed justification of annual public expenditures be provided for legislative and public review.

Finance board members are expected to review and discuss the school district’s year-end report on September 10 when they meet at Town Hall South.

Both Kathy Fetchick, a Republican nominee, and Democratic school board nominee Anna Wiedemann pointed to transfers of funds in the final weeks and days of the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.

“I am concerned with the movement of funds,” Ms Fetchick told The Newtown Bee recently. “There appears to be little accountability.”

Ms Fetchick referenced a June 30 transfer in the school’s year-end report of $5,000 that was moved to the Technology account for “additional equipment.”

“The report doesn’t tell me if this money was originally in the plan for that purpose,” Ms Fetchick said. “What school was it for and what kind of equipment? This year-end report doesn’t tell me that.”

Ms Fetchick said that while the district provides the year-end summary package of transfers, the categories are so broad, she finds it impossible to get a true picture of where the district’s financial bottom line stands.

This week, the Independent Party of Newtown (IPN) committee issued an updated release incorporating a platform calling for zero-based budgeting for the school district and town.

“Each of the town’s departments and the Board of Education will be required to submit an annual budget that does not simply renew or escalate the previous year’s expenditures; instead, each department budget will start at zero and each individual item to be included must be publicly justified each year,” the IPN committee release states.

The IPN is forming with declared candidates for several town offices, including Legislative Council hopefuls Gary Davis and Po Murray, co-founders of We Care About Newtown (WeCAN). WeCAN was originally formed to advocate for school concerns and other public issues including the town budget.

Ms Fetchick believes with some modifications, the school district’s year-end reporting process can provide taxpayers with a clearer and more easy-to-understand picture of how transfers are being applied.

“These reports should illustrate where the district is being fiscally responsible,” Ms Fetchick said. “I want to be able to easily track particular lines to determine if there are patterns of regular surpluses or deficits in specific departments.”

She said the current document is not as helpful as it could be as a tool to help school board members in planning.

“On the townside report, you can track the starting point of virtually every tax dollar in or out through the end of the fiscal year,” Ms Fetchick said. The school board candidate admitted with a $67 million budget, it would be impossible to provide this type of printed record on a month-to-month basis, but suggested the district post a continually revised spreadsheet on its website for public review on a 24/7 basis.

Finance board Chairman John Kortze said he did not have a chance to review and discuss year-end financials with the school district because figures were not made available until mid-August.

“I think we should have had this information awhile ago,” Mr Kortze said.

Referencing one of his concerns, Mr Kortze pointed to an apparent surplus in the oil and fuel line of the school budget of nearly 25 percent.

“Why was it so over budget? I can see a cushion of five or even ten percent, but the line came in $165,000 over budget,” Mr Kortze said. He also referenced the insurance and benefits budget, which Mr Kortze said had $100,000 transferred out.

“We haggled over this during budget deliberations last year, and then large amounts of money are moved out at the end of the year,” Mr Kortze said. “This is something we’re going to be looking at.”

Mr Kortze said he becomes more concerned when parents step up complaining they have to purchase basic classroom supplies like pencils and tissues.

“We keep hearing from parents about these shortages but money keeps coming out at the eleventh hour. Why aren’t we spending all the supply money?” Mr Kortze asked, adding that the report summary reflects a significant number of encumbrances that “don’t make sense.”

Mr Kortze shares the primary observations of Ms Fetchick and Ms Wiedemann, regarding an ability to identify spending and savings trends on a school-to-school basis.

“We’ve been asking for more detailed reports for some time,” Mr Kortze said.

Ms Wiedemann said there is a clear disparity between the school’s financial management and the town’s.

“The selectman’s office cannot move funds arbitrarily, but the Board of Education seems to have the freedom to do it at their discretion,” Ms Wiedemann said.

The Democratic school board candidate said she has attended several board of finance meetings where financial reports that are due monthly from the school district have not been delivered. She also pointed out an early August finance board meeting during which the school’s capital plan was presented for discussion, and nobody from the school board or district bothered to show up.