The Baltimore City Department of Finance will serve as the independent third party conducting the review of the controversial 2008 budget recently approved by the school board of commissioners.
The Maryland State Department of Education, MSDE spokesman Bill Reinhard said, also will advise the school system and Finance Department on how to make the document more reader-friendly.
Finance director Ed Gallagher confirmed Wednesday evening that his office waited to receive the final budget document from Baltimore City Public School System Chief Financial Officer John Walker.
It will be a push, Gallagher said, to finish the review in time for the special April 19 public meeting called by the school board to respond to concerns about budget errors first reported in The (Baltimore) Sun.
“We will review the reasonableness and completeness of it, and determine if it is a fair representation of what they say they are going to do with their resources,” Gallagher said. “We?re not making a judgment of policy. We?re looking at it in terms of whether the numbers support the salaries and benefits and other expenses.”
On Tuesday, the school board downplayed the errors that misaligned the staff numbers, salaries and instructional expenses in the 270-page document, designed to outline the disbursement of $1.2 billion.
“… News reportsdescribing issues in the 2008 BCPSS budget suggest inconsistencies that are substantive and far-ranging,” the board said in a statement. “They are not! … The budget is sound and there is no evidence of over-budgeting or bottom-line errors.”
Frank Conaway, Baltimore City Circuit Court clerk and mayoral candidate, said he prefers to have an independent receiver review the school system?s budget.
“But short of that, I guess this can be all right,” Conaway said. “It?s just a matter of being able to count. A third party will give us some information that will perhaps be helpful.”
