By:Jerry Burke
Last Friday, state Senators Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick), Michael Balboni (R-East Williston) and John Flanagan (R-East Northport) introduced legislative proposals designed to give taxpayers more of a voice and create additional accountability on the part of the school districts.
"Voters who exercise their right to vote should know, without any reservations, that their vote will be given full value by the school district and that their voice will be heard," Fuschillo said from the press room of the Nassau County State Supreme Court building.
One of Fuschillo's proposals would require school districts to adopt a contingency budget if voters fail to approve the proposed budget in the first vote. Currently, school boards have two options should their original proposal be voted down: either proposing a second budget, which may or may not be revised, for a re-vote or going straight to the adoption of a contingency budget.
By law, if a second budget is defeated, the district must adopt a contingency budget.
"The 'one vote' principle is at the very heart of our democracy, and should be adhered to in all elections," said Fuschillo, who believes putting it all on the line in one vote would put the impetus on districts to fully disclose everything they spend as well as informing the public what will be cut should the budget fail.
"These legislative reforms will ensure that money budgeted for educating children is being expended correctly," said Flanagan, a co-sponsor of the bill. "The public is genuinely concerned about how their dollars for education are being spent. They must feel confident that there are effective internal controls, responsible budgeting and prudent expenditure of taxpayers' funds."
Balboni's legislation is focused on improving the accountability of schools and school officials, which would require the state comptroller to audit every school district at least once every three years, allow the courts to seek restitution from individuals convicted of stealing from a school district and require school district officials to disclose, in writing, whether they or their spouses have personal financial stakes in any school business.
"We need to restore the community's justifiably shaken confidence," said Balboni. "We need to put back the ABC's in education -- accountability, believability and conscience."
Each disclosure, according to the bill, would be given to an official's supervisor as well as to the school board, and would be available to the public.
Another piece of legislation introduced by Balboni would require school officials to complete annual financial-disclosure statements similar to those required of state and municipal elected officials. The statements, said Balboni, would be filed with local town or city clerks and be available for public review.
"The general public will benefit from increased scrutiny of the private financial activities of individuals entrusted with public funds," said Balboni.
Balboni and Fuschillo also stressed the importance of another bill, introduced earlier in the month, which has already received bipartisan support from both houses of the state Legislature. Spearheaded by State Comptroller Alan Hevesi and Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli (D-Great Neck), that bill would require districts to police themselves better through training, additional internal audits, the creation of an audit committee in each district, changing outside audit firms every five years and requiring school boards to be directly involved in answering any questions about those audits.
In the Assembly, the co-sponsors of the bill include Assemblymen Thomas Alfano (R-North Valley Stream) and Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach).
Comments about this story? JBurke@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
