State-Hired Auditing Firm: Manipulation Of Education Budgets Fault Of Local School Board For Failed Oversight

The accounting firm hired by the State Board of Education to conduct a forensic audit of the local district’s bleeding budgets has concluded “manipulation of financial information persisted for several years due to the board of education’s ongoing failure to provide adequate oversight and intervene in the budgeting process.”

The firm Clifton, Larson, Allen LLP (CLA) found no evidence of financial fraud but asserted “misclassification of expenditures was a deliberate tactic used by the District to ensure actual expenditures aligned with the budget.”

Governor Ned Lamont initiated state intervention in the Bridgeport district, though not a complete takeover, after reports of massive deficits, dysfunction and in-fighting among the nine-member board. Several board members blamed ex school chief Carmela Levy-David for the mess, but the auditing firm lays the financial chaos, right or wrong, at the feet of the school board for lack of oversight.

The state education board also ordered the local district to undergo several sessions of civility training to better serve the district.

In this current municipal election year, the pure politics of this, not necessarily reality, will play out. Five of the nine school board seats are in play. For the past few years, Mayor Joe Ganim’s alliances on the local school board have not enjoyed decision control, but opponents who supported John Gomes for mayor including Joe Sokolovic, Rob Traber and Willie Medina.

Medina won a four-year term in the last mayoral cycle while Sokolovic and Traber’s terms are up this year. Sokolovic is seeking reelection while Traber has not yet decided as of a few days ago. All three have not been crazy about certain terms of this state intervention, they assert is intrusive to local control, something they will likely note in this forensic audit findings. And they may very well argue it was predecessor boards that lacked the oversight.

Also, in fairness to Sokolovic, the most senior member of the board, he has been screaming for years, especially after the flood of federal money following COVID,  that a “fiscal cliff” was coming. When the federal dough runs out, he declared many times, a huge problem is coming. He was spot on.

So this state-financed audit comes at an intriguing time as we enter the season of elections for school board and City Council.

The Bridgeport Public Schools Forensic Audit report is available at: https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/sde/press-room/files/cla-final-report.pdf

Summary of conclusion:

Conclusion CLA was engaged to perform forensic audit procedures for the following scope areas: operational budget expenditures and fiscal control review. The objectives of this engagement were to determine if expenditures align with budgeted allocations and, where they do not, identify the basis for and nature of such misalignment and to assess the existence and efficacy of the established fiscal controls and how such fiscal controls relate to any misalignment in expenditures relative to operational budgets. Based on the forensic audit procedures performed by CLA, no evidence of fraud or misappropriation of District assets was identified. However, misclassifications of certain expenditures were noted, resulting in actual expenditures that did not align with the budgeted allocations. We were unable to identify the basis for and nature of each misclassification with certainty; however, based on our overall processes, including email review and trend analysis, CLA understands that the misclassification of expenditures was a deliberate tactic used by the District to ensure actual expenditures aligned with the budget. This tactic was carried out by the District without intervention by the board of education, largely due to the lack of oversight by the board during the budgeting process. Further, budget transfers were often made to cover budget shortfalls artificially, resulting in information regarding budget accuracy being obscured in routine review of the budget to actual financial results. Again, this manipulation of financial information persisted for several years due to the board of education’s ongoing failure to provide adequate oversight and intervene in the budgeting process. In conclusion, the forensic audit conducted by CLA revealed systemic weaknesses in the District’s financial management practices, driven largely by a lack of board oversight, limited transparency, and inconsistent application of fiscal controls.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Royce Avery, who took over after his embattled predecessor was shown the door, has served as a key go-between between the local board and the state oversight. He issued this statement:

Today, the Bridgeport Public Schools received the audit report conducted by the Connecticut State Board of Education, covering the period from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025. We want to be clear: we are in the early stages of reviewing this report in full detail.

This audit is an important step toward building a stronger, more transparent, and more accountable school district. We take the findings and recommendations seriously, and we are carefully analyzing all aspects of the report before offering detailed comment or conclusions.

In the past six months, under the leadership of Interim Superintendent Dr. Royce Avery, the district has prioritized placing Bridgeport Public Schools on a stable and sustainable financial path. This audit provides valuable information that will help guide that ongoing work.

We remain committed to transparency, responsible fiscal management, and ensuring that every decision supports our students, staff, and families. We will continue to review the audit thoroughly and will share additional information as we move forward.