Enfield's School Audit: A Breakdown in Communication and Oversight
The newly released audit of the Board of Education's $5.6 million cost overrun makes one thing clear: this wasn't a simple mistake. It was a systemic failure — the result of siloed operations, weak internal rigor, and missteps by both the school district and the town.
And here's the hard truth: Enfield still hasn't actually paid for this failure. Town reserves covered the gap, shrinking our financial cushion and limiting our ability to soften future tax hikes. Next year's budget will reveal just how vulnerable we are.What this incident tells us is that Enfield isn't managing its risk very well — and that should worry everyone. Fundamentally, this was a costly risk-management failure, and nothing in the audit suggests it can't happen again.
[Audit link, and Council slide deck]
CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), the audit firm, outlines eight major problems, many of them rooted in communication breakdowns between the town, the school district, and the state. The audit cites internal-control weaknesses — an ERP system not fully utilized, manual spreadsheets, poor budgeting discipline, and reliance on informal funding assurances from the state when written confirmation was needed. (ERP — Enterprise Resource Planning — refers to systems that manage finances, HR, supply chains and other core operations.)
The resulting ADA lawsuit was entirely avoidable if the Town Council and the School had assessed the risks. Instead, the town fought the multi-year case, lost, and paid $685,000 this year — money that could have supported programs cut from the schools. Different issue, but same underlying failure: people weren't talking, and taxpayers paid the price.
Whether the new Town Council will absorb the audit's lessons is unclear. The political fallout has been ugly, and it's easy to get lost in the details.
The town mistakenly deposited $2.5 million into the district's payroll account labeled as a "BOE Surplus," creating months of confusion. And the arrival of 27 high-needs students, which added about $1.8 million in unexpected expenses, was "unanticipated and not preventable," the auditors said — though they also recommended budgeting methods that better account for this risk.
There's no villain here. What this audit describes is mostly a failure of communications by both the town and school district and a need to improve some budget practices. We're told that many of the audit's recommendations have been implemented or will be.
The auditors' first recommendation makes this point:
CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), the audit firm, outlines eight major problems, many of them rooted in communication breakdowns between the town, the school district, and the state. The audit cites internal-control weaknesses — an ERP system not fully utilized, manual spreadsheets, poor budgeting discipline, and reliance on informal funding assurances from the state when written confirmation was needed. (ERP — Enterprise Resource Planning — refers to systems that manage finances, HR, supply chains and other core operations.)
The Real Problem: No One Was Talking
But the auditors' most important point is simple:"Many misunderstandings," the auditors wrote, "could have been avoided if ongoing financial discussions had been occurring between the town and school board.The primary failure wasn't technical. It was the lack of communication that would have surfaced problems before they snowballed.
The Hernandez Case Revisited
The audit doesn't address the case of former School Board member Sarah Hernandez, but it takes on a new light with this report. Hernandez, an autistic and deaf Enfield resident elected to the Board of Education in 2017, requested reasonable accommodations — including more written communication — but the School Board resisted.The resulting ADA lawsuit was entirely avoidable if the Town Council and the School had assessed the risks. Instead, the town fought the multi-year case, lost, and paid $685,000 this year — money that could have supported programs cut from the schools. Different issue, but same underlying failure: people weren't talking, and taxpayers paid the price.
Whether the new Town Council will absorb the audit's lessons is unclear. The political fallout has been ugly, and it's easy to get lost in the details.
The Audit's Findings Are Plain
The district budgeted $2.8 million in anticipated Alliance funds based on informal assurances, which then led the Town to reduce the school's budget to reflect that expected money, guaranteeing a total loss when the state never delivered.The town mistakenly deposited $2.5 million into the district's payroll account labeled as a "BOE Surplus," creating months of confusion. And the arrival of 27 high-needs students, which added about $1.8 million in unexpected expenses, was "unanticipated and not preventable," the auditors said — though they also recommended budgeting methods that better account for this risk.
Getting Past Grievances
The point of the audit isn't to reopen political wounds or engage in a new round of back-and-forth. The budget shortfall has been an ugly chapter for Enfield, and the grievances run deep. To avoid repeating it, officials must ensure that the town and schools work closely together, establish true early-warning systems, and identify risks before budgets are adopted.There's no villain here. What this audit describes is mostly a failure of communications by both the town and school district and a need to improve some budget practices. We're told that many of the audit's recommendations have been implemented or will be.
The Positives
The Town Council may want to resist putting this in the rearview mirror. The problem isn't political, though it may seem that way. The audit outlines a management system failure by two separate entities -- the town and school district -- that apparently need tighter financial coordination.The auditors' first recommendation makes this point:
"There is currently no formal cadence of financial meetings between the two entities [Town and School District]. However, many interviewees expressed a desire to improve this and to enhance coordination. Additionally, the current Superintendent has dramatically streamlined the District budget and increased transparency and collaboration on the budget development process."The auditors note that the willingness for change is not only evident but underway. That's a clear positive. But neither the Town Council nor the School Board can drop the ball. The real takeaway from the audit is simple: Enfield had risk-management failures on every side, and avoiding future debacles will take active, ongoing oversight and, most importantly, communication.
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