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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Educated Guess: Good report, for the moment, on districts’ finances

The Educated Guess


Good report, for the moment, on districts’ finances




Call it remarkable management or, more likely, the lull before the crash. The number of school districts in financial distress actually decreased from a year ago, according to report issued last week by FCMAT, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. That’s the agency that intervenes when districts are struggling financially.
For the reporting period ending Oct. 31, only a dozen districts – out of about 1,000  – reported a negative status, compared with 19 in the last reporting period of 2009 and 16 in the comparable period a year ago. The latest total  is preliminary, since county offices of education have yet to certify that the districts’ self-reporting is accurate. (View FCMAT’s latest report for a 15-year comparison of the number of districts in financial trouble.)
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