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Auditor says nonpublic-school review found poor, incomplete recordkeeping; final report due in June
Summary
Jeff Bliss of Lurch, Vinci & Bliss told the Jersey City Board of Education that auditors found "poor and incomplete" recordkeeping in the district's nonpublic-school files and that the firm has expanded its scope to cover an earlier year; the auditor said the full report is expected at the June meeting.
Jeff Bliss, an auditor for Lurch, Vinci & Bliss, told the Jersey City Board of Education that an agreed-upon-procedures review of the district's nonpublic-school aid files uncovered widespread documentation problems and that the firm has extended its scope to cover an earlier school year.
"It was a very difficult examination, with respect to obtaining records," Bliss said, citing missing files, incomplete or inconsistent invoices and schedules that did not match the district's 4071 plans. He said the firm finished the first phase for 2023-24 and expanded the review to include 2022-23 because the earlier work did not include nonpublic-school data.
The auditor told trustees the team was "approximately two thirds done" with the second phase and "anticipated that we will be complete and ready to present the complete report at the June meeting." Bliss described the primary problem as a lack of documentation to substantiate services billed to those programs: in some cases service schedules, time sheets and invoices did not line up with the service plans.
Trustees pressed for a timeline and examples. One asked whether the issues were limited to recordkeeping or reflected broader contractual problems; Bliss said he had not found contract deficiencies "to my recollection," but that the accounting trail and backup documentation were often missing or inconsistent. He said auditors were also obtaining records from third-party providers to reconcile payroll and invoices.
Why it matters: the audit covers programs that affect state aid calculations and special-education funding. Trustees and public speakers tied the findings to broader questions about the district's special-education delivery and to the district's budget gap for 2026-27.
The board was told the final, comprehensive report for the expanded scope is expected to be presented at a June meeting, when trustees will receive a detailed list of findings and the auditor's corrective-action recommendations. In the meantime, trustees and speakers at the meeting urged the administration to share interim findings with families and to take early corrective steps where students' services could be affected.
The board did not take formal action on the audit at the session and directed continued review and a report-back in June.
