Nassau BOCES audits praised by state comptroller
Nassau BOCES superintendent Robert Dillon, left, and president Eric Schultz, right, speak at a board meeting, Nov. 19, 2015.
Nassau BOCES, one of New York’s largest regional school organizations, has won high marks from the state’s fiscal watchdogs for the careful auditing of more than $260 million in agency expenses over a 19-month period.
The State Comptroller’s office reported today that Nassau’s Board of Cooperative Educational Services, headquartered in Garden City, had been thorough and accurate in establishing that expense claims submitted by outside vendors were legitimate and educationally justified before payments were made.
Expense claims were handled by Glenn Grossman, the agency’s internal claims auditor, and other staffers.
“We commend BOCES officials for establishing and implementing an effective systems of controls over claims processing,” stated the report prepared by the Comptroller’s regional center in Hauppauge.
In reviewing BOCES’ work, state monitors selected a sample of 177 claims from a total of 22,236 claims paid between July 1, 2014, and Jan. 31, 2016. Selected claims, totaling about $2 million, were checked to make sure they were properly authorized by agency officials and that they served a valid business purpose.
Robert Dillon, the BOCES superintendent, and Eric Schultz, the organization’s board president, expressed gratitude for the state’s kudos in a joint statement.
“We are proud of the positive feedback that we received from your office regarding the effective system of controls over claims processing,” their letter said.
Nassau BOCES, like similar organizations across the state, provides regional services including vocational training and special education to 56 school districts within the county. The agency employs more than 2,500 teachers and other staff, and operates on a budget of about $313 million for the 2015-16 school year.
John Hildebrand is Newsday's senior education writer and has covered school news and policy issues affecting Long Island for more than 40 years.
