School District Fiscal Snapshot

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ALBANY, NY (03/17/2015)(readMedia)-- The New York State Association of School Business Officials (NYSASBO) released today its third annual report on school district finances.

This report provides a fiscal snapshot of the financial condition of New York State school districts, as part of a continuing series of NYSASBO studies. It presents data from 667 independent school district annual financial reports and personnel master file for the 2013-14 school year that show:

• Four out of ten school districts lost unassigned fund balance in the past year

• Four out of ten school districts reduced funds held in restricted reserves in the past year.

• School districts lost an additional 2,775 professional staff members, or two percent of the workforce in the past year

• Over the past six years New York State independent school districts have lost 12 percent of their workforce, or an annual rate of two percent

• Twenty-three (23%) percent or 150 school districts lost both fund balance and staff.

"The data shows school districts continue to be in a prolonged period of fiscal stress due to the continuation of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), failure to fully fund the Foundation Aid formula and cap on local revenues," said Michael J. Borges, NYSASBO's Executive Director. "Despite partial restorations of state aid lost during the Great Recession, many schools are still struggling, particularly high and average need school districts," Mr. Borges continued. "We also identify some state actions to relieve this stress including a higher fund balance limit for high need school districts, improving the use of reserve funds by school districts, and requiring long range financial planning," Mr. Borges concluded.

The full report can be found on our website at www.nysasbo.org.