You asked for a description of the procedure four city school districts use to disburse education funds as directed by the board of education. You were interested in the disbursement processes in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury.

SUMMARY

The information in this report comes from telephone conversations with school business officials in the four cities.

All four cities have similar processes to disburse funds for their school systems. All four require school officials to requisition purchases, receive approvals from within the school system, and send the requisition to the city purchasing department for execution. After the item or service is procured, all four school systems rely on city offices to pay vendors. The requisition process is accomplished electronically in Hartford and Waterbury. Officials in three of the cities estimated that the requisition process takes from a few days to one week for most purchases. Bridgeport's school business manager could not provide any estimate of how long that city's requisition process takes on average.

BRIDGEPORT

Elizabeth Mauer, Manager, Budget & Financial Reporting for the Bridgeport school system summarized the board of education's disbursement process as follows:

When the board of education purchases supplies, the board of education's business office sends a purchase order with the board of education account number to the city's purchasing department. The city purchasing department buys the item. Mauer could not provide any estimate of how long this process usually takes.

Once the item is purchased, the school system receives it, checks it in, and sends the invoice to the city's accounting department for payment. The accounting department makes the payment. Payments are generally made within 30 days of the accounting department's receipt of the invoice, Mauer said.

HARTFORD

Maureen Colman, Acting Deputy-Chief Financial Officer for Hartford Public Schools, summarizes Hartford's education fund disbursement process as follows (Hartford uses a decentralized automated financial system, so most of the requisitioning steps in the process are accomplished electronically).

1. Depending on the item, someone at the school will enter a requisition into the automated financial system.

2. If this person is not an administrator, an administrator must sign-off on the requisition.

3. The requisition makes its way through the approval chain to the Finance Department which conducts a pre-audit.

4. It is then routed to the city purchasing office, which issues the purchase order to the vendor.

5. Once the item is received, the city processes payment.

Colman indicates that the process happens relatively quickly and that schools can go into the system and track requisitions. Additionally, she noted that the Finance Department has the authority to approve orders on a principal's behalf to speed up the process. Finally, she noted that for unique or special items, the process may be a bit different, requiring the city to get quotes or put the item or service out to bid. However, most purchases are made from approved and designated vendors.

NEW HAVEN

Jim Skoczylas of the New Haven Public School's Business and Finance Department indicates that the board follows the city of New Haven's procurement policies. Items or services under $500 can generally be purchased directly. For bigger purchases, the board of education must provide verbal or written approval. The requisition then goes through the city's approval process. The requisition process can take anywhere from a day to a week. Invoices are usually paid within 30 to 60 days.

WATERBURY

Paul Mazzacaro, School Business Administrator for the Waterbury board of education, listed the following steps in Waterbury's education fund disbursement process. Waterbury uses an automated financial system, so most of the requisitioning steps in the process are accomplished electronically.

1. A person working in the board of education's business office enters a requisition for a particular item or service into the automated financial system.

2. A department head within the board of education, such as the school facilities manager, signs off on the requisition.

3. If the item being requisitioned is curriculum-related, an assistant superintendent must also approve the requisition.

4. The requisition is sent to a board of education accountant, who reviews the charging and makes sure it is to the correct account.

5. The school business administrator (Mazzacaro) or, in his absence, the board's chief administrator, approves the requisition. This constitutes final approval for the education side unless the item is a contract costing more than $50,000 or with a duration of more than one year, in which case it might also require approval from the board of education or the board of aldermen.

6. After the required approvals from the school administration, the requisition is sent to the city's budget office for approval.

7. The city budget office directs the city's purchasing director to issue a purchase order.

8. The city purchasing department makes the purchase.

Since the above steps are mostly electronic, these approvals are generally completed in two or three days, Mazzacaro says.

The steps for paying for purchased items are as follows:

1. The education department receives the items and checks them in.

2. Vendors are directed to send their invoices directly to the school business office, but if they do not, the department receiving the items must send it to the business office.

3. The school business administrator approves a voucher for payments and sends it the city's financial office for payment.

4. The city checks to see if the vendor owes the city any taxes and, if it does not, it issues a check for payment.

Mazzacaro says this payment process generally takes place in 30 days or less as long as the invoice is correctly addressed. The city issues checks to vendors every Friday, he told us.

JL:ts