Assemblyman Tom Alfano announced that legislation he authored with Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli that increases the oversight of statewide local school districts has been sent to the governor's desk for approval. The two bills specifically seek to improve fiscal practices in school districts throughout the state.

"I'm really proud of the great bipartisan effort that was put into these bills," said Assemblyman Alfano noting, "the support of educators, administrators and Comptroller Hevesi has made this legislation a real model that will protect taxpayers and schools."

"When no one is watching, there is always the risk of mismanagement and even corruption, which unfortunately took place in some school districts. This legislation is about preventing corruption and restoring the public's confidence. It's also about giving every school district the oversight tools to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent effectively. These bills would not have passed by both houses without the leadership of Speaker Silver, Assemblymembers Tom DiNapoli, Tom Alfano and Majority Leader Bruno and Senator Carl Marcellino in the Senate."

"The objective of these bills is to make sure that the resources given to our schools go to the classroom where they belong," said Assemblyman Alfano. Alfano also cited local school districts that gave direct input on the bill submissions. "The reason why these bills will work is that our school districts helped us craft the proposals so that we could do the very best job for taxpayers," Alfano said.

"These bills, which enjoy wide support in the educational community and from the accounting profession, strengthen school district financial oversight. Together with additional auditing by the comptroller, it provides a comprehensive approach to ensure accountability and restore public confidence in school district financial operations," said Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli.

Provisions of the DiNapoli-Alfano Bills include:

* A requirement that every school district, BOCES and charter school be audited by the Office of the State Comptroller at least once by March 31 - after that date, schools will be audited based on an OSC audit plan and risk assessment process;

* The establishment of minimum criteria for the scope of these audits, including assessment of current financial practices and determination of the adequacy of internal controls;

* Requiring any findings of fraud or abuse uncovered by the OSC be reported to the commissioner of education, charter entity and state and federal prosecutors.

Alfano also noted that legislation would release $2.9 million for the comptroller's office to hire additional auditing staff - money that was approved in this year's on-time state budget. The measure would also require schools to make the final OSC audit report available to the public and calls for an end-of-year report from the OSC to the governor and legislature on all school audits completed that year.

The second DiNapoli-Alfano Bill would further increase the oversight of schools throughout the state. The bill:

* Requires school board members to be trained on their financial oversight responsibilities;

* Mandates that school districts and BOCES establish internal control functions;

* Requires audit committees in school districts;

* Mandates that school districts select an external auditor through a competitive request for proposals process (RFP);

* Establishes a five-year limitation on contracts between a school district and external auditor;

* Improves annual external audits by requiring direct school board involvement;

"The key to these measures can be summed up this way - accountability, accountability, accountability," said Assemblyman Alfano, concluding, "These new laws give our schools the tools to do the job and will assure taxpayers are protected. My thanks go to our local school districts that were very supportive of these proposals."