Norwich City School District is working diligently to improve the school's financial situation by thinking outside the box.

NORWICH – The Norwich City School District is still classified as being in “significant fiscal stress” according to a recent New York State Comptroller report that was released last week.

Despite that however the school has made some positive gains when compared to its position a year earlier when another report cited similar issues.

According to a letter from Interim Superintendent Diana Bowers, the school has made a significant improvement in the budget deficit. The deficit for the 2017-2018 school year was at a significant high of $2,722,000. In the 2018-2019 school year, the deficit was reduced to $465,000.

In the letter from Bowers, she explains how the New York State Comptrollers Office monitors the fiscal characteristics of each school district and assigns a Fiscal Stress Score.

“A score that ranges from 0-20, out of 100 potential points, means that the district does not have fiscal stress or “no designation.” As the number increases the scores go from “Moderate Stress” to “Significant Stress.” For the 2017-18 school year, the NCSD had a score of 70 and was designated as having significant stress. Only one district in NY State had a higher score or designation than the NCSD. We were recently notified that the preliminary score for last school year, 2018-19, is 66.7, which is still considered significant stress.”