The Arizona Department of Education says a school district has made an unintentional clerical error when it projected a $5 million deficit and is now asking the state treasurer to reconsider her denial for additional funds.
Superintendent for the Nadaburg Unified School District Aspasia Angelou says that the district worked with government agencies to identify the error.
“The Department of Education identified one error in one cell that was put into a category that it should not have been input to and that created the $5 million deficit,” she said.
The district instead has a projected positive cash balance of $1.3 million by the end of the year.
Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee had denied the district’s request for a $3 million cash advance, noting the reported $5 million deficit.
Angelou says that she hopes Yee will acknowledge the error and honor the district’s original request for $3 million.
She says the district has had clean audits for the past five years.
“We will put in additional checks and balances on top of those we already have. This was one error in one cell, and I will ensure that it is something I am looking for in the future,” she said.
Angelou says even with the positive balance, the district had planned on asking for additional funds to meet normal expenses.
The state education department says cash advances are allowed if a district repays the money and meets other requirements.
