North Bellmore School District 'Susceptible' To Fiscal Stress

The North Bellmore School District was among 26 across the state have been designated as fiscally stressed under New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli's Fiscal Stress Monitoring System.

"While it is welcome news that so few school districts across the state have been classified as in fiscal stress, school officials should remain vigilant and carefully consider how their budgeting decisions will affect their long-term fiscal condition and local taxpayers," DiNapoli said.

This is the fifth year DiNapoli's office has assessed levels of fiscal stress in school districts. Using many different financial indicators, DiNapoli's monitoring system creates an overall fiscal stress score which drives the classification. The scores are based on the evaluation of 674 school districts with fiscal years ending on June 30, 2017.

The higher a district scores on the assessment, the more fiscal stress it is facing. North Bellmore had a score of 28.3 percent, which is up from its score last year of 20. Long Beach was the only other Nassau school district that was listed in distress. Both districts were listed as "susceptible to fiscal stress" based on their scores.

The scores are based on financial information submitted as part of each district's ST-3 financial report filed with the State Education Department as of Dec. 29, 2017. The announcement does not include scores for the dependent school districts in the "Big Four" cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers. Information for these districts will be incorporated into the scoring for their respective cities later this year. The monitoring system does not score New York City.

DiNapoli's office recently implemented system enhancements which were developed with direct input from local government and school district officials. The changes provide local officials with more helpful, easy-to-understand information that can help them address specific challenges facing their communities.

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