“Fiscal stress in many school districts has declined, especially for those in the most severe condition,” said DiNapoli. “School officials should be commended for working to keep their districts out of financial harm, but should be careful not to amass excessive levels of fund balance in order to do so.”

DiNapoli’s report also highlighted:

• * Regions with the highest percentage of stressed school districts last year were the Mohawk Valley (15 percent); Long Island (15 percent); and Central New York (15 percent);
  
  
• * Fiscal stress designations changed for 81 districts last year with 60 moving to a lower stress category and 21 to a higher category;
  
  
• * Approximately 74 percent of school districts statewide were not in a fiscal stress category in any of the four years; and
  
  
• * Only 15 districts were found to have experienced stress in all four years of scoring