Hudson County Facts

REPORT OF EXAMINATION – OCTOBER 2004
CREATE BOARD OF TRUSTEES – PUBLIC SCHOOL CONTRACTS LAW AND OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT VIOLATIONS

The Department of Education, Office of Compliance Investigation, (OCI) conducted a review of the CREATE Charter School Board of Trustees\’ compliance with the Public School Contracts Law and Open Public Meetings Act.\’ At the time of the review, the following deficiencies were noted:

1. The financial statements appear to improperly report a positive fund balance and have not been prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP).
2. The CREATE Charter High School violated provisions of N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-4 by failing to publicly advertise for competitive bids.
3. CREATE violated provisions of the Public School Contracts Law by failing to obtain competitive quotations as required under N.J.S.A. 18A:18Á-37.
4. The CREATE Board of Trustees violated N.J.S.A. 18A:17-9 when it failed to provide detailed financial summary reports to board members.
5. The CREATE Board of Trustees violated N.J.S.A. 18A:19-2 when it made payments prior to board approval.
6. The CREATE Board of Trustees violated N.J.S.A. 10:4-8 (d) when it failed to properly publicize the convening of public meetings with 48-hour notice and publicly announce that adequate notice had been given.
7. The, CREATE Board of Trustees violated provisions of N.J.S.A. 10:4 when it failed to vote on-an action.
8. The CREATE Board óf Trustees violated provisions of N.J.S.A. 10:4-13 when it failed to disclose the nature of the discussion of the executive session.
9. The CREATE Board of Trustees violated provisions of N.J.S.A. 10:4-14 when it failed to record minutes of the executive discussion and release those minutes when the exemption from pubic discussion expired.
10. CREATE Charter School does not properly record the activities of the Board meetings in the board minutes.
11. CREATE Charter School failed to maintain adequate human resource and payroll functions.
12. CREATE Charter School made inappropriate financial transactions.
13. CREATE Charter School lacks adequate internal controls over financial transactions.
14. CREATE Charter School does not maintain proper filing and record retention.
15. CREATE Charter School may not be in compliance with the charter regarding the number of board members.

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