On Friday The Evening Sun printed an article headlined “Lack of funds forces Norwich School District to take $3.5 million loan.” Later that day the school responded by publishing a letter from the Interim Superintendent further detailing the issues. Read it below:

Dear Parents and Community Members,

Friday an article was written in The Evening Sun about some financial information that was shared at a Board of Education meeting last night. As you can well imagine, the financial situation that the

NCSD is facing is complex and has many facets to it. We thought it was a good time to share some information with the Norwich Community so we could clarify some of the information shared in the paper.

The first six months of the 2019-2020 school year has been a time of discovery, understanding, and intervention. We have unearthed a number of important obstacles for our school district and we are now well into the solution stage. With that being said, it is time to share what the NCSD is presently doing and where we plan to go in the months ahead.

For the past few school years, the NCSD dealt with a number of factors that put the District into fiscal stress. For the past 4 years the annual budget ran on a deficit ranging from a high of - $2,722,000 (2017-18 school year) to a low of - $465,000 (2018-19 school year). This occurred despite the fact that our fund balance and applicable reserves were used to off-set the expected negatives within the budget, until our fund balance also showed a negative balance for multiple years. At this point our unappropriated fund balance remains at $0 and the remaining reserves are far below the “fiscally healthy” levels.

As the result of the repetitive deficits, the NCSD was required to take out a Revenue Anticipation Note (RAN) to deal with cash flow issues throughout the year. State funding comes at specific times in the year that leaves gaps in the cash flow. If the Fund Balance is strong, these funds can be used to help with cash flow issues. With nothing to fall back on, this was necessary in order to meet our financial responsibilities. It is important to note that we plan to pay back the RAN at the end of our fiscal year.

During the summer prior to the 2019-2020 school year, we hired a Forensic Auditor to dig down and give us an understanding of the financial picture ahead. Our auditor looked at State and Federal Grants, revenues, expenditures, areas within the budget that we should focus on, and the budgeting process from the prior year. As we did our due diligence in all areas of the budget, we found funds that hadn’t been expended in a number of areas and absorbed them into this year’s budget. Additionally, we had very positive conversations with Assemblyman Crouch and Senator Akshar, and both are willing to help us recover. A Bill is being written that could allow funds to be released from the NYSED that they are presently holding in Building Aid. This could help us begin to replenish our fund balance and possibly reserves.

In October of this year, Margaret Boice joined us as an Interim Business Manager to help move us along. She has been invaluable as she helped us prepare for the budgeting process for the 2020-21 school year. During the winter months we will also welcome Brian Bartlett as our new part-time Business Manager, until he takes over at the end of March when Margaret’s interim is completed. Brian will have the benefit of working with us as we develop this year’s budget so he has a sound understanding ofthe process before he goes solo in the spring. We have hired Brian through DCMO BOCES which will allow part of his salary to drive BOCES aid for our district.

Throughout this school year, we have done a number of things that will help us end this school year in a more positive place. The District’s budget was frozen after the Thanksgiving holiday to minimize spending and help us recover funds. We are having conversations with all groups and departments to think out-of- the-box on ways that we can be fiscally conservative, and we are reaching out to County and Community Partners to ask for help during the recovery process. We are also looking at potential grant monies that could come into the district and are supporting our faculty and staff if they would like to write grants in our recovery efforts.

As we plan for next year, we are considering the possibility of creating programs within the district that would allow us to educate and support Norwich students within our district that we presently send to out-side placements. Returning students to our in-house programs would be a win-win for everyone both educationally and fiscally. Additionally, we are building partnerships with neighboring districts that will allow us to share resources and generate State Aid. We will also consider other “next steps” that will bring us back to fiscal health.

Please feel free to join us for our upcoming budget meetings on February 5th and March 11th at the District Office at 6:00pm, if you’re interested in the upcoming financial picture. One of our primary goals this year is to communicate so you will understand what is happening within the district. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and remember my door is always open.

Yours truly,

Diana Bowers, Ed.D.

Norwich Interim Superintendent