ALBANY – Assemblymen James Skoufis (D, Woodbury) and Jonathan Jacobson (D, Newburgh) are urging the governor to sign into law a pair of bills that would forgive state fines levied against two Orange County school districts.
The Chester Union Free School District and Newburgh Enlarged City School District were fined in response to alleged clerical errors by the districts. Both fines stem from allegedly incomplete or late paperwork that has since been submitted.
The Chester district was fined $3.3 million in August 2017 for filing irregularities related to construction of Chester Academy in 2012.
In 2015, Newburgh school officials were informed they would be fined $13.3 million for a missing form related to a 2004 capital project at Newburgh Free Academy.
The governor signed legislation forgiving a $19.9 million fine imposed on the North Syracuse Central School District for similar irregularities. Skoufis and Jacobson said Hudson Valley students should be given the same consideration.
