Motion to hire forensic audit firm passes during East Ramapo Central School District Board Meeting

Students within the district took to the podium this Tuesday evening to beg for answers.

Diane Caruso and Lauren Del Valle

Mar 4, 2025, 5:18 PM

Updated 7 days ago

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A motion to hire an outside firm to do a forensic audit of finances was passed Tuesday evening during an East Ramapo Central School District board meeting. This comes following last week's possible discovery of a $90 million surplus within the district.
Students within the district took to the podium this Tuesday evening to beg for answers.
From alleged unhygienic bathrooms to classes to "being frozen in time," members of the community expressed their frustration following last week's discovery of a possible $90 million surplus within the district.
"The food, the bathrooms, the maintenance, the workers, the lack of money...anow and now there's money. so whoever's responsible for doing all the money and miscalculating and miscoding, you need to fire them," said one parent within the district.
The surplus is based on what was said to be spent verses that school year's planned budget for 2022 to present day.
This past November, an outside auditor stated there was more than $30 million in unrestricted funds the previous year.
Last week, the school's board learned the district's surplus may have reached a possible 90 million.
Board of Education members expressed their confusion with the figures.
"We now have more questions, and we have no one to answer them, because of the fact that everyone that was here then made sure that they resigned or retired prior to the school year. so that right there is a red flag, and we need answers," said board member Sabrina Charles-Pierre.
The New York State Comptroller's Office began conducting a review of the situation in January.