School districts try to overcome error that led to shortfall

Wednesday, March 2, 2005 | 10:37 a.m.

Local and state education officials are scrambling to fix a clerical error that could leave public schools short $68 million over the biennium.

Walt Rulffes, deputy superintendent of operations for the Clark County School District, said two lines on the budget submitted to the state were accidentally reversed. About $30 million in designated expenditures, payments the district had already committed to make, were listed as the end fund balance that carries over to the next fiscal year.

Doug Thunder, deputy superintendent of finance for the state Education Department, said Washoe County also had an error on its schools budget, totaling $3 million. Like Clark County, items that should have been listed as obligations were instead posted as part of the end fund balance, Thunder said.

To correct the errors, $68 million would need to be added to the Distributive School Fund over the biennium, Thunder said.

The mistakes rate as a "7 or 8" on a scale of 1 to 10, Thunder said.

"An error of this magnitude is unusual," Thunder said.

There is a bright side, however. Because it is early in the legislative session there is time for districts and the education department to negotiate, Thunder said. He has already submitted a request to the Senate Finance Committee asking that the overlooked $34 million be added to the public schools budget.

At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee Monday, Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, instructed state staff to verify the $34 million discrepancy and resolve the issue prior to the joint budget committee meeting March 11.

The Clark County School District's budget director at the time the report was submitted to the state was Linda Poleski. She left her post Feb. 18 after just eight months for an accounting position with the city of North Las Vegas. Rulffes said Poleski made the decision to leave before the budget errors were discovered earlier this month.

"Ultimately the responsibility (for the accuracy of the budget) falls to the deputy superintendent, and that's me," Rulffes said.

Poleski did not return the Sun's calls seeking comment and instead forwarded the messages to district personnel.

High staff turnover in the budget and finance offices may have contributed to the oversight, Rulffes said. The district has gotten used to "training" accounting personnel who then leave for better-paying jobs with other public sector employers, Rulffes complained. In the last year about a half-dozen school employees have left for positions with the cities of Henderson, North Las Vegas and other municipal agencies, Rulffes said.

The state education department's finance office is also struggling with high turnover and is understaffed, Thunder said. Local school districts are required to submit budgets by early November and the state education department must reviewed and forward those to the Legislature by the November 25, Thunder said.

"The time frame is very limited so there isn't a lot of time to compare numbers," Thunder said. "That's not an excuse, it's just the reality we're working with here."

Gary Kraemer, chief financial officer for the Washoe County School District, said he was anxious to see the issue resolved.

"This was a basic clerical error buried in 500 pages of numbers," Kraemer said. "We're hopeful the situation can be worked out quickly."