Hamburg School District Superintendent Mark Crawford responds to finance questions
By DANIEL MEYER
Editor The Sun
Questions circulating throughout the community about the finances of the Hamburg Central School District have prompted the district’s top administrator to respond to allegations that there is a lack of transparency when it comes to Hamburg’s financial health.
The rumors trace back to comments that have been aired in recent weeks and have also been submitted to The Sun via anonymous e-mail messages on three different occasions earlier this week.
According to the most recent e-mail message that was received by The Sun, “recent inside information has revealed that the district missed a filing deadline for $1.4 million in transportation reimbursement.”
In response to the rumors and the anonymous comments and requests of The Sun to “investigate and write a story on why this information has not been made public,” Hamburg School Superintendent Mark Crawford supplied to The Sun the following response:
“The matter that you are referring to goes back to 2005-2006 and involves a report that the school district filed about transportation.
The report was filed in a timely manner, but State Ed claimed that they did not receive it by the due date.
At that time, the district resubmitted the report, and has a copy of the original submission of the report. The penalty would be a retroactive loss of $1.3 million.
However, I learned about this matter when I was new to the district in November of 2007. At that time, I met with Senator Stachowski and Assemblyman Quinn, who said that they had submitted legislation in order to absolve this district of State Ed's penalty.
So, the matter has rolled forward up into September of 2009 when both the Senate and the House passed a Bill which included the Hamburg Central School District, along with some 30 other school districts.
The legislation was intended to remove any penalty being imposed on the Hamburg School District by State Ed and the other school districts. Shortly after that, Governor Patterson vetoed the legislation.
At the moment, nothing is occurring regarding the matter. We have received no claim from the state and furthermore, Senator Bill Stachowski, with whom I spoke yesterday, stated that he and Assemblyman Quinn are co-sponsoring legislation once again to remove State Ed's financial penalties for reports that they claim were not received in a timely manner.
Again, what you need to understand is that no one here did anything wrong. The report was filed on time, but State Ed at the end of the 2005-06 school year indicated that because the report was not received by the due date, they would impose this penalty.
This is something I intend to fight through the courts if need be. “
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