At a state Senate Education Committee hearing, lawmakers heard details of the Claremont School District’s roughly $5 million budget deficit and fiscal mismanagement, NH Journal reports. The committee postponed a vote on a proposed taxpayer-backed rescue plan.
According to NH Journal, one figure on the books was dramatically out of line with reality.
At one point, a bookkeeping document reported the district had a $390,000 fund balance in the bank. But when interim business administrator Matt Angell checked with the bank, the account actually had a negative balance of $2.5 million.
NH Journal
The chair said the district’s problems still are not fully explained.
Claremont is in turmoil after revealing a $5 million budget deficit that has thrown the district into crisis — and that school officials have yet to explain.
NH Journal
Committee chair Sen. Ruth Ward described the scope of the spending, NH Journal reports.
“We still need better answers on what happened, but we now know that the district spent millions of dollars that they never had.”
NH Journal
Ward had convened the hearing to weigh a line of credit against future aid.
Ward, who represents Claremont, convened the committee to consider a proposal to offer the district a taxpayer-backed line of credit against future state aid to help it stay open for the rest of the year.
NH Journal
Republican legislators said they wanted proof of reforms before extending help, NH Journal reports.
Republican legislators made it clear they have no interest in throwing a lifeline to Claremont’s elected school board or administrators until they have assurances that reforms have been put in place.
NH Journal
The hearing turned into a detailed accounting of how Claremont’s finances went off the rails, with lawmakers pressing officials on basic bookkeeping failures, NH Journal reports. Ward ultimately postponed the vote on the proposed rescue plan, signaling that Republicans wanted firmer commitments to reform before moving forward.
The postponement left the Claremont rescue plan in limbo as lawmakers sought clearer answers about what went wrong, NH Journal reports. With the district facing a roughly $5 million deficit and questions about its basic accounting, Republicans signaled that any state help would come only after assurances of reform.
The hearing laid bare the depth of Claremont’s budget problems, including a roughly $5 million deficit and bookkeeping so unreliable that one document overstated an account balance by nearly $3 million, NH Journal reports. Lawmakers pressed officials on whether even basic accounting functions had been performed.
Ward, who represents Claremont, had convened the committee to weigh a taxpayer-backed line of credit against future state aid, but postponed the vote, according to NH Journal. Republicans, some of whom suggested intentional malfeasance, signaled they would not extend a lifeline to the district’s board and administrators without assurances that reforms were in place.
The postponement left the Claremont rescue plan in limbo as lawmakers sought clearer answers about what went wrong, NH Journal reports. With the district facing a roughly $5 million deficit and questions about its most basic accounting, Republicans signaled that any state help would come only after firm assurances of reform.
Read the full story at NH Journal.
