BROCKTON — Amid the fallout from two investigations into Brockton Public Schools’ finances , city and school officials are now grappling with how to put the pieces back together and get the school district back on track.
Brockton Mayor and School Committee Chair Robert Sullivan has called for “radical changes” to the school department’s budget process, as well as “cost-containment measures” for the current school year.
An audit commissioned by the city and conducted by law firm Nystrom, Beckman & Paris provided a wide range of recommendations for BPS to reform its financial processes.
Some of those recommendations have already been completed — like appointing a new superintendent with a background in finances ; or organizing its budget more effectively in the district’s internal budget software called MUNIS.
Other recommendations would require legislative approval from the city and state, which would take time. That includes a recommendation by the auditors that the chair of the School Committee be somebody other than the mayor, a recommendation which Sullivan said he supports.