A recent e-mail circulated throughout the Manhasset community alleging the mismanagement of the school district’s finances and padding of its annual budgets to purposely yield surplus funds is “grossly inaccurate,” the Manhasset board of education charged last week.
“We are proud of the hard work and professionalism demonstrated by our district employees, in every area. Thus, we are appalled and offended to read inflammatory and unfounded accusations of mismanagement by district officials,” the board wrote in a letter to the editor published in this week’s Manhasset Times. “The fact that such false statements were spread via e-mail by a group which remains anonymous is, in our view, detrimental and destructive to our community.”
The board’s letter was the latest in a series of angry responses to MPSA allegations of financial mismanagement and lack of transparency on the part of the school district.
The MPSA has itself declined to disclose the author of its e-mails, both in e-mail exchanges with the Manhasset Times and a Feb. 5 telephone conversation in which someone claiming to be speaking on the MPSA’s behalf said the group wants to remain secretive to avoid confrontations with members of the community.
When asked to reveal his identity, the self-described MPSA spokesman declined. He also called from a pay phone, in part to conceal his identity, he said.
“We want to remain independent so that we can continue to put the truth out there to the community,” he said. “We’re saying things about the school district that the district would never put out in meetings or their press releases.”
The self-described MPSA spokesman said MPSA e-mails are sent to approximately 1,000 Manhasset residents.
E-mails to residents last spring called for voters to reject Manhasset’s 2013-14 budget. The budget, which included a tax cap increase that exceeded the state mandate, was defeated by voters before a revised financial plan got voter approval.
The MPSA’s latest e-mail, sent to the community on Jan. 30, alleged that undisclosed “state regulators” confirmed MPSA suspicions that the Manhasset School District’s finances had been mismanaged and furthered its belief that the board of education had purposely over budgeted each year for the last decade to create a $20 million surplus.
In recent weeks, MPSA e-mails to Manhasset residents have also challenged the results of the district’s internal and independent auditors as well as the results of a report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that named Manhasset among 87 schools in New York that have sustained fiscal stress in the last year.
In a separate e-mail to the Manhasset Times, the MPSA wrote that the “state regulators” it cited in its public e-mail were investigators within DiNapoli’s office and that evidence of budget-padding could be found within the district’s annual audited financial statements.
“MPSA views the Comptroller’s report as a wake-up call to homeowners who believe the school board when they recently announced ‘spending is under control’ – nothing could be further from the truth,” wrote the MPSA, which added the district should halt current salary negotiations with all union workers and budget projections until a long-term plan to reduce fiscal stress is reached.
In its response this week, the board of education wrote that the entire budget process is already transparent, as members of the public are invited to attend meetings and work sessions and participate in discussions. The district’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance, which works with the board in formulating the budget, is comprised entirely of members of the Manhasset community.
The board also wrote that the district’s finances and internal controls are reviewed by two independent auditing firms that present their findings to the board and Audit Committee, which is also comprised of members of the community.
“No evidence of mismanagement has been found by the auditors, state regulators, the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance or the Audit Committee,” the board wrote.
In his report, DiNapoli attributed fiscal stress to a combination of factors, including decreased state and federal aid, capped property tax revenues and limited “rainy day funds.”
Manhasset residents have also disputed the MPSA’s allegations and accused the MPSA of trying to divide the community.
In a letter to the editor published in last week’s Manhasset Times, resident Dino Moshova wrote that DiNapoli did not find that Manhasset’s finances were mismanaged, but threatened by external forces to which the board is adapting.
He also wrote that e-mails by the MPSA portray a “distorted reality” about the school district that “ignores the truth and public education law.”
“…A destructive force like the MPSA and its inflammatory rhetoric does nothing to support or preserve opportunities for our students,” Moshova wrote. “Our excellent schools need a unified community behind them to ensure continued excellence.”
In another letter to the editor published in last week’s Manhasset Times, resident Nick Pappas described the MPSA “as a virus that does not go away.”
“While we are all entitled to our democratic opinions, it’s unacceptable to use out-of-context quotes and make unsubstantiated accusations about the Manhasset School District in order to drive their questionable goals,” Pappas wrote.
