Levittown School District Mismanaged Budget Over Five-Year Period, Comptroller’s Audit Finds

LEVITTOWN, NY — The Levittown School District mismanaged its budget over a five-year period, a new audit from New York State found.

According to the audit from State Comtroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office the Levittown School Board and School District overestimated its appropriations by $127 million between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years, underestimating revenues by $23.6 million and appropriating $64.9 million in fund balance and reserves that weren’t needed to fund operations during the same timespan.

"The Board and District officials’ consistent practice of appropriating fund balance that is not needed to finance operations results in real property tax levies that are higher than needed," DiNapoli's office wrote. "Further, the lack of Board-authorization and detailed reporting on reserve fund activities is not transparent to taxpayers and does not allow the Board sufficient information to make informed decisions."

In a response to DiNapoli’s audit, Levittown Superintendent Todd Winch said a formal plan to correct the budget practices that DiNapoli’s office identified was already in the works, and that the district planned to present it at the July 8 board of education meeting.

Furthermore, Winch referred to an area in the comptroller’s report which said the district’s annual operating surpluses have decreased from 13.42 percent in the 2021-22 school year to 6.95 percent in the 2024-25 school year. That trend, Winch said, shows that the district’s work to refine its budgeting practices have already been effective.

“The District acknowledges the recommendations regarding reserve fund management and incorporated enhanced monitoring and reporting procedures during the development of the 2026–2027 budget,” Winch said.

Winch added that the district’s reliance on appropriated fund balance has also decreased in recent years, from $13 million in 2018-19 to $7.9 million in the adopted 2026-27 budget.

“[The] administration has utilized available resources to fund one-time expenditures and establish three separate capital reserve funds to address critical infrastructure needs, including the installation of districtwide classroom air conditioning, new roofs, and one-button lockdown systems,” Winch said.

On the comptroller’s side, the state officials said Levittown’s BOE overestimated its expenses and underestimated its revenues by an average of $25 million per year between 2020-21 and 2024-25. That underestimation meant the district appropriated over 10 percent less than it had budgeted for in that timeframe, DiNapoli’s audit said.

State officials did say, per their conversations with members of the board, that these overestimations were not the result of an intentional effort to create budget surpluses, but rather that they came into existence, “because it is challenging to predict costs” in areas like teacher salaries, employee benefits and special education programming.

The second item in the audit said that Levittown’s BOE had appropriated money out of its fund balance to cover the cost of operations that could have been covered without the extra money.

“The Board appropriated $51.7 million in surplus fund balance over a five-year period to finance annual expenditures. However, the District’s revenues were sufficient to cover expenditures each year and none of the $51.7 million was needed for the District’s operations,” DiNapoli’s office said. “The District experienced unplanned operating surpluses between $15.5 and $22.3 million over the five-year period. District officials used the surpluses to fund various reserves, mainly for capital projects.”

This appropriation, DiNapoli’s office said, left the district operating at a surplus of over $87 million over five years.

State officials recommended seven steps that the district ought to take to rectify its budget situation, including the development of budgets that “include reasonable estimates,” the adoption of a plan to reduce the district’s surplus fund balance, and the implementation of several measures to keep reserve funds at a reasonable level.