As students in Brockton, Massachusetts, lace up their shoes and strap on their backpacks for the first day of classes, their school district is strapped for cash.
School officials in the Plymouth County city have been trying to reassure parents and staff that last fiscal year's budget shortfall will not impact the start of school, but concerns remain as to how the district will make up for the money.
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For now, students and staff will begin the school year with a new budget, which isn't in the negative. The school committee voted last week to appoint James Cobbs as acting superintendent, after the current superintendent, Michael Thomas, informed the committee he was taking medical leave due to heart issues.
One of Cobbs' priorities is to find a new high school principal, which Thomas was temporarily serving as.
Last week, the district informed the public it was short $14 million. The previous year, it was short $18 million.
On Friday, Thomas wouldn't say when he found out there was such a hole in their finances, but did offer an explanation as to how the district went overbudget.
“A lot of overruns with we had some staffing, extra staff we had the safety and security concerns," he said. "We had to do a lot of things to keep students safe we had transportation cost for a lot of different reasons, so there’s a lot of different things."
He went on to say that there is nothing criminal going on.
The school committee said that it hired an outside firm to conduct an audit of their finances; Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan said they would be providing updates on that report.
