IPS Audit Confirms School District Has $8.4 Million Surplus Instead Of $30 Million Deficit

Gross incompetence in the fiscal management of the Indianapolis Public School district has been confirmed by a concluded state board of accounts audit which finds that the district is not facing a $30 million deficit this year. It ended the last fiscal year with an $8.4 million surplus and has about $60 million in reserves. The numbers were confirmed by IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee before tonight's board meeting. The problem seems to be that IPS' budgeted expenditures exceeded actual expenditures by at least $40 million. The audit confirms that is has been a long-standing practice of the district to deliberately overstate projected expenditures. It's easy to blame the huge financial misstep on former IPS Superintendent Eugene White, but it's obvious the elected members of the school board have been asleep at the switch as well.