EXCERPT: ... More than two years later, construction hasn't even begun on the building. ...
This week, the district received a welcome bit of good news that might nudge the project forward. Four months into the fiscal year, Alum Rock finally won approval of its 2017-'18 budget from the Santa Clara County Office of Education, which is charged with budget oversight for the county's 31 school districts....
The district must meet conditions that the office of education attached to its budget approval. To help, the county office will send in an auditor to make sense of the district's financial books. On Jan. 1, it also will deploy a fiscal expert to help address persistent shortcomings - Alum Rock's failure to reconcile its numbers, prepare a monthly cash flow and address understated expenditures - and to report on progress in meeting state auditors' recommendations.
The adviser also will help identify funds to pay off $25 million in special bonds not approved by voters but borrowed in 2010 to build San Antonio Elementary School.
The lapses in accounting aren't a new phenomena. "Historically, the district has submitted a balanced budget that has significantly varied from the actual budget at the end of the year," wrote Megan K. Reilly, chief business officer of the county office of education, in her letter to Alum Rock. ...
While setting its financial house in order, Alum Rock will be responding to subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is investigating its bond management. The board on Thursday agreed to seek a financial adviser to help respond to the SEC demands. ...
But perhaps the greatest hurdle may be Alum Rock's mercurial governing board, whose majority has resisted warnings issued by the state school auditing agency known as FCMAT. Board members also have vilified county office of education Superintendent Jon Gundry, who instigated the audit and has encouraged the board to comply with its findings. Board behavior has been cited as a liability by investigating agencies.
FCMAT advised renegotiating contracts with Del Terra Real Estate, which manages Alum Rock's bond construction. The board this week again rebuffed efforts by trustees Karen Martinez and Andrés Quintero to drop Del Terra as bond program manager. ...
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