A proposal in the state budget would eliminate reporting requirements to the state for all local governments and schools starting next year.
E.J. McMahon, a senior fellow for the Empire Center for Public Policy, ripped the proposal, saying it would eliminate school-report cards that are published by the state Department of Education and provide valuable information about districts’ spending and tax rates.
“I think there is enormous potential for mischief in this. This poses the greatest potential threat to transparency and accountability in government in New York in the modern era,” McMahon told Gannett’s Albany Bureau.
The proposal would give Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Mandate Relief Council control over which local entities report their financial data to either the education department or the Comptroller’s Office.
Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli also knocked the proposal in his budget analysis yesterday…..
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