The Petro Years Audit: "Transfers out of Charter school appropriations..."

Anthony Petrosino was employed at an annual salary of $144,900 as Assistant to Hoboken Superintendent Raslowsky for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years.

GA's dug up some dynamite called The Hoboken Public Schools Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ending June 2008... 

...but you can call it the (first) "Petro Years Audit."

The details of this audit for the 2007-2008 school year were never presented to the public-- and you know what they say: details are where the devil hides.

In this case, the devils were running the show*.
*For the first time, after Kids First took control in 2009, the details of the Hoboken Public Schools 2008-2009 audit (the second Petro Years Audit) were publicly presented, putting the Petro Years devils on public display.   Hoboken Now reported the shocking Petro Years audit findings in its article: "Scathing audit of Hoboken Board of Education shows more than two dozen irregularities." 
Well, the never-before-presented details of the 2007-2008 Petro Years Audit will be shared with the public for the first time here on GA.  

The 2007-2008 Petro Years Audit is 224 pages. Today we'll look at this excerpt of Finding 2008-10 below:

"...the District also made transfers out of charter school appropriations without prior approval from Department of Education."

 Those unapproved transfers of Elysian Charter School and Hoboken Charter School monies occurred under Anthony Petrosino and Raslowsky in 2007-2008....  

...and STOPPED by Kids First in 2009.   

Here it is, Petro-Years Audit page 167:


Questions:

How much $ was transferred OUT of Elysian and Hoboken Charter School appropriations?
The Auditor did not identify the amount.

Why was money transferred OUT of Elysian and Hoboken Charter School appropriations?
The Auditor says "cause" is "unknown."

Where did the money go?
GA says, "Who the hell knows."

Here are some puzzle pieces.

From the PetroYears audit-- page 159, check out how  expenditures on Charter Schools take a dive from 2006 to 2007 (normally would increase), then in the fiscal year ending in 2008 (Petrosino's first year assisting Raslowsky) the expenditures were  "ZERO."

click to read


 Zero expenditures for Charter Schools?  How can that be?

Let's check the Hoboken Board of Education "User Friendly" Budget to see what they reported for "Transfer of Funds to Charter Schools" in that year, 2007-2008.  

That figure was $2,873,499, found on the 2008-2009 "User Friendly Budget"- page 2:

click to read

So, in the Petro Years, the Hoboken Board of Education reports $2.8M transfer of funds to Charters in 2007-2008, then appropriates almost double for 2008-2009...

Meanwhile the auditor,  who looks at the books, including bank statements, reported  zero  expenditures on Charter schools...

And the auditor reports transfer out of Charter School appropriations....

Is that why so much crapademia flows from Texas.: bullshit graphs,  lies about how everything's gotten worse in Public Schools since Kids First took out the garbage in 2009 - the OPPOSITE is true.

 In fact, the truth is hidden in plain sight in those Petro Years docs- from botoxing enrollment to falsely claiming rising "cost-per-pupil".

So, what were these "transfers out of Charter School appropriations?"  

Hoboken taxpayers have a right to know.

Comments

  1. If I remember correctly, 2007-2008 was when the BOE stopped collecting rent from Hoboken Charter. Dont if that has anything to do with this other funny business.

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  2. Imagine that! Pertrosino administration years breaking the rules.
    I am sure there's lots to find there. Afterall, he was collecting $130,000.00 a year from the Hoboken Taxpayers while working as a professor in Texas.

    Speaking of graduation rates, wasn't it during Petro's tenure that there was the disappearing 11th graders. Some 50- 60% of all of 11th graders were lost So they wouldnt be listed as HSPA tested. They'd then show up again in 12th grade.
    What'd they call it? 10r, I think.
    Said those kids needed an extra year to gain knowledge before taking the test.

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    Replies
    1. Kids First under Minutillo put a stop to that BS. I don't know when it started, though.

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  3. The Petrosino administration transferred $ appropriated for Elysian and Hoboken charters to....?

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    Replies
    1. Good question.

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    2. A better question is wouldn't have Elysian and Hoboken Charter have said something about not getting their State mandated allotment?

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    3. How would charters know what was missing ("transferred out") if the auditor didn't know? The charters get their monies from the district.

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    4. Isn't the amount set by the State. The State would know and the charters would check with the State.

      Auditors only use information provided to them so wouldn't ask the State.

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    5. Anon 3:47,

      If you're right and they knew, then the next question is who in the charters knew, and why they kept quiet. I can think of a few different scenarios, but it's all conjecture.

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    6. The BoE budget shows $2.8M was "transferred to Charters" in 2007-2008, then the BoE nearly doubled charter appropriations to $4.3 for 2008-2009. The audit found "transfers out of Charter appropriations" but the audit found amounts "unknown." One question Petrosino can answer is did the Charters receive their full appropriations from the state in 2007-2008? With documentation to back it up. Until we know,any conjecture is, IMO premature.

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  4. I am sure Dr. "Curious Gal" Petrosino is reading this see if he is brave enough to answer the questions. I doubt it he strikes me as a coward.

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  5. ...And yet, he continues to pontificate.

    If you can tolerate the level of drooling pretension, scan his writings for a single clue what he thinks the BOE is doing wrong and should change to ensure a higher graduation rate. You won't find anything. Unless you take his "academic" suggestion about improved parking.

    You need to put yourself in his shoes. Grew up in Hoboken. Wanted to be an educator. Rose to a level of, at least politically designated, prominence doing just that in his home town. And was shown the door by what he will always consider outside invaders, irrespective of the fact that they had kids in the schools and he didn't.

    It's a blood feud and will always be a blood feud. That's why it transfers so easily from ripping off the charters on behalf of the BOE to ripping off the BOE on behalf of the charters. The enemy never changed - it's the "outsiders".

    Pure tribalism. That's what Petro is about. If you don't get that, sorry, you just aren't paying attention.

    Remember the special election of 2010? Dirtiest campaign in the history of post-modern Hoboken? In 2016, the same group finds themselves just 2 "Occhipintis," ie bought seats, away from a return to the glory days. Control over $52million. And hey, you can't educate those kids anyway, so why waste all that money, right? Cell phones for everyone!

    This fall there will be unlimited Raia money, unlimited Beth money (perfect opportunity for her political come-back), unlimited ground troops. And Petrosino is already cranking out propaganda charts to be used in the fliers that will appear on some faux organization's ELECs, like the Mason/Garcia/Keim attack dog "Real Democrats of Hoboken."

    They all know the shit storm that's coming this fall.

    Do we?

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