Report of Regents Audits/Budget and Finance Committee to The Board of Regents

The Regents Committee on Audits/Budget and Finance met as scheduled yesterday afternoon, October 21, 2013. Chancellor Tisch, Regents Dawson, Chapey, Bendit, Jackson, Phillips, Tallon, and Tilles were in attendance.

Items for Discussion

Completed Audits

The Committee was presented with 13 audits this month.  All 13 audits were issued by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC).  Eleven of the audits were of school districts, one was of a charter school, and one was a follow-up of a provider of after-school services.

The findings were in the areas of financial reporting, budgeting, information technology, claims processing, student enrollment and billing, extra classroom activity fund, and board oversight.

2013 Fiscal Report

Our Chief Financial Officer briefed the Members on the Fiscal Report for September.  Extensive spending controls continue for all funds.  General Fund spending reflects the amounts appropriated in the 2013-14 enacted budget.  General Fund accounts are in structural balance with the exception of the Tenured Teacher Hearings (TTH) account.  The 2013-14 budget includes a $6 million appropriation for TTH claims, an increase of $2.2 million from the prior year.  With these additional funds, the deficit at the end of 2013-14 is projected to be $2.03 million.  Special Revenue accounts are all in structural balance on a current year basis and the accumulated negative balance in the Cultural Education Account is being reduced by approximately $2.2 million.