Lawrence not stressing over fiscal status

Despite a “fiscal stress” score that is 17 points higher than last year’s, Lawrence School District officials insist that the district is in good financial health.
The state comptroller’s office released the results of its second annual Fiscal Stress Monitoring System evaluation on Jan. 29. The system measures the fiscal health of school districts based on four indicators: fund balances, operating deficits, available money and debt. Using a 100-point scale, districts were placed in one of three categories: significant stress, moderate stress and susceptible to stress. The report reflects the fiscal year that ended last June 30.
Lawrence scored 80 points, which put it in the “significant stress” category — the highest score in the county and fourth-highest among the state’s 674 school districts. Last year, Lawrence scored 63.3 points, and was in the “moderate stress” category.
“The system is meant to identify the key areas of concern for districts and allow residents to see information they may not otherwise pay attention to,” said Brian Butry, a spokesman for State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “Hopefully, [the districts] would view it as a wakeup call. The hope is stakeholders can work together to determine the best course of action to address these problems areas in both the short and long term.”
Superintendent Gary Schall said that Lawrence is in much better financial health than the report shows because of several factors. The district anticipates receiving $800,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements for expenses related to Hurricane Sandy, and is owed $1.4 million by the New York City school system for services provided in local private schools for students who live in the city.

Lawrence also expects to add $8.5 million — the proceeds of the sale of the Number Six School — to its coffers this spring, Schall said, adding that the district anticipates generating annual revenue of more than $500,000 when the Number Five School is leased. Another $750,000, a pre-payment of retirement benefits, was applied as a deficit for the 2013-14 fiscal year, but became a credit on July 1, the start of a new fiscal year, Schall said.
“The state would not have made a significant stress level designation if it had properly accounted for these revenues,” he said. “To the contrary, when taken into account, district finances are in good condition relative to other districts, with a structure that ensures financial stability into the future.”
Board of Education President Murray Forman said that the district has cut administration and support staff to keep spending in check as the state-mandated property tax cap and decreases in state aid have reduced revenue. “Realistically, we have no debt,” Forman said, “and once the outstanding FEMA money comes off, that changes the ratios and we go back to being just fine. The Number Six School will flip the paradigm.”
In addition to fiscal stress, the comptroller’s report also measures what it calls environmental stress. The indicators are student enrollment, property value, budget vote results and poverty. Lawrence’s score is 30, which is comparable to the Hewlett-Woodmere School District. The comptroller’s report does not rank districts’ environmental scores.
Dr. Peter Weber, assistant superintendent of business for the Hewlett-Woodmere district, which, — according to the comptroller’s report, has no fiscal stress — said that the district has reserves set aside for unexpected building repairs, maintenance of the athletic fields and retirement payments to offset double-digit increases in mandatory contribution rates. “As a result,” Weber said, “we’ve had the flexibility to adapt to new mandates, directives and changing instructional needs.”
For the list of school districts in fiscal stress, go to osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/pdf/schools/2015_SchoolStressList.pdf. The list of fiscal stress scores can be found at osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/pdf/schools/2015_SchoolSummaryList.pdf.

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