Summary: Eastport-South Manor Central School District, New York; School State Program

S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook on its 'AA-' rating on Eastport-South Manor Central School District, N.Y.'s general obligation (GO) debt to stable from negative and affirmed the rating. We also revised the outlook on New York State Dormitory Authority's series 2012G school-district-revenue-bond-financing-program bonds, of which the district is a member. (For more information on the New York State Dormitory Authority bonds, please see our analysis, published May 7, 2019, on RatingsDirect.) The outlook revision reflects our opinion of the district's ability to stabilize reserves in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The district has taken significant steps to right-size revenue and expenses by reducing staff and transportation costs and challenging staff and board of education spending habits. The district also

...Before fiscal year-end 2018, the district spent reserves for seven straight fiscal years, which resulted in an available fund balance of $3.1 million at fiscal year-end 2017. The district had been unable to match ongoing revenue with expenses. Management previously expected fiscal 2018 would end with $500,000 in unspent budgeted funds. However, it ended fiscal 2018 with a surplus of 2.6% of expenditures, or $2.3 million. Management attributes the fiscal 2018 surplus to its close expense monitoring, change in philosophy regarding districtwide spending, and significant savings in special-education costs....

Summary