"It is apparent from our discussions that you and the Board of Education
need to take dramatic actions to reduce the budget deficit while at the
same time protecting your academic programs." The
letter also asks that East Ramapo officials make cuts to assure that
the budget is balanced, which is required by state education law.
Further, the state is willing to help the district create
appropriate, and less costly, in-district programs for special-education
students who have been placed in private schools – yeshivas.
Newsday reports:
…[T]he state education department sent a letter [posted below] Friday to East Ramapo school officials demanding that they balance their budget and pay area education cooperatives about $5 million in back bills, Newsday has learned.
The missive appears to be the first step in a process that, without cooperation from district officials, could result in a state takeover of the financially troubled district.
"I'm very concerned about the decisions the district is making around its finances, including the failure to pay for the BOCES services," State Education Commissioner John King Jr. told Newsday Friday. "We are committed to exercising whatever authority we have to assure that students are well served."
Amid lawsuits and allegations of impropriety, the district is grappling with how to make an estimated $8 million in midyear cuts from its $190 million budget for this school year. The district must close a budget gap brought on when projected expenses came in higher than budgeted.
East Ramapo school officials estimated that, without cuts, they won't be able to make payroll at the end of the school year. Still, when faced with public outcry at a Dec. 4 meeting, the school board balked at making any decisions and Orthodox Jewish board members, who hold a majority, abruptly left the meeting as public comment began.
On Friday, the state sent a letter to East Ramapo Superintendent Joel Klein requesting that by Jan. 2 the district document the budget deficit and submit a plan for addressing it. The letter was signed by Assistant Commissioner Charles Szuberla Jr.
"It is apparent from our discussions that you and the Board of Education need to take dramatic actions to reduce the budget deficit while at the same time protecting your academic programs," Szuberla wrote.
The letter also asks that East Ramapo officials make cuts to assure that the budget is balanced, which is required by state education law. Further, the state is willing to help the district create appropriate, and less costly, in-district programs for special-education students who have been placed in private schools. [emphasis added]
Several Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities are within the district's boundaries. The state has refused aid to the district for inappropriate placement of special-education students from those communities in private religious schools.
Neither Klein nor East Ramapo school board president Daniel Schwartz responded to requests for comment.…
Here's the state's letter as a PDF file:
Download Re- East Ramapo Schools 12-2012 116941083-ER-December-Budget-Letter-F2-JK
[Hat Tip: Devorah.]