New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr., (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) today thanked New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli for releasing a report produced under his Fiscal Stress Monitoring System, detailing the level of financial stress the State’s school districts are experiencing.

“It goes without saying that nowadays, our schools are being asked to do more with less,” noted Assemblyman Thiele. “The timely issuance of this report will ensure that this data is used to guide State education aid discussions during upcoming 2014-2015 State Budget negotiations.”

87 school districts, 13 percent of school districts statewide, have been designated as fiscally stressed under DiNapoli’s Fiscal Stress Monitoring System. 674 school districts have been evaluated with fiscal years ending on June 30, 2013. Using financial indicators that include year-end fund balance, cash position and patterns of operating deficits, to-date, 12 school districts have been classified as in “significant fiscal stress,” 23 in “moderate fiscal stress,” and 52 as “susceptible to fiscal stress.”

Within Thiele’s Assembly District, East Moriches Union Free School District and East Quogue Union Free School District show signs of “moderate fiscal stress”. Eastport-South Manor Central School District is “susceptible to financial stress”.

The fiscal stress scores are based on financial information submitted as part of each district’s ST-3 report filed with the State Education Department as of Dec. 13, 2013. The Comptroller’s office also analyzed separate environmental indicators to help provide insight into the health of the local economy and other challenges that might affect a school district’s finances. These include such measures as student enrollment, property value, budget vote results and poverty.

According to the report issued today with the fiscal stress scores, school districts found to be in fiscal stress share a number of common characteristics. Most are operating with low fund balance, operating deficits and limited cash on hand. These districts were also found to have a much higher likelihood of using short-term borrowing to bridge cash flow gaps.

Fiscally stressed school districts also share a number of environmental themes, according to DiNapoli’s report. Although many factors are outside a district’s control, they can drive additional costs or hurt the district’s ability to raise revenues.

For the complete list of school district fiscal stress scores, visit:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/pdf/schools/schools_summary_lists.pdf

For a copy of the fiscal stress commonalities report visit:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/fiscalmonitoring/pdf/FiscalStressSummaryResultsSchoolDistricts.pdf