THREE members of the Board of Education on Thursday scolded Commissioner of Education Alfred A. Ada for submitting a report with clerical errors.
The report, among other things, detailed the status of federal funds that the Public School System received in 2021 and 2022.
Board member Herman Atalig said there were “inaccuracies” in some of the numbers presented in Ada’s report, adding that some of them do not match the numbers in the supporting documents.
He said reports submitted to the board should be reviewed first.
Board member Andrew Orsini said he shares Atalig’s frustration. He said it was not the first time that an inaccurate report was presented to the board.
Orsini told the commissioner to “please keep in mind” that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic when PSS was low in funding, the reports were “pretty much accurate.”
Now that there are so much funds coming their way, “it seems to me that there is a convolution of funding that is going on,” he added.
He said if the board doesn’t get an accurate report from the commissioner and his team, “maybe we have to…freeze everything” until they get “updated data.”
He said PSS management has the expertise and good people “and still we have all these inaccuracies.”
Like Atalig, BOE Vice Chairman Antonio Borja said reports should be reviewed before they are submitted to the board “because we don’t want inaccurate information.”
Commissioner Ada responded by saying that his office could do a better job when providing financial details and information to the board.
The commissioner’s office said it has identified at least “four clerical errors” in the report, adding that it will ensure additional cross-checks and audits by three finance professionals before reports are submitted to the BOE.
The commissioner’s office said it will also work closely with the BOE “to improve reporting expectations.”
