Recap BOE meeting 2/7/2012

Feel free to distribute if you think it’s worth sharing (and if you or someone else hasn’t already provided a better recap!).

All best,
Howard Simon

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The numbers change, but the bottom line stays the same: unless the Board of Education decides to attempt an override of the tax cap, cuts are coming to the schools.  However, it remains unclear which teaching positions and programs will be cut, and whether some cuts from last year – notably, cuts to the guidance and library programs – may be reversed via savings from cuts to other programs this year.

                According to a presentation by Assistant Superintendent Mary Callahan (which should be posted on the district web site soon), a number of developments have altered the current budgetary landscape.  First, six teachers have filed notice that they will be retiring; however, four of them will need to be replaced.  Second, when the Board refinanced an outstanding debt in a move which saved the district some $100,000, those savings were, in effect, applied by the state to the district’s tax cap levy calculations.  In short, when the formula for figuring what the district’s tax cap levy limit is worked, Dr. Callahan says the latest figures from the state dictate that Port Washington can impose a budgetary increase of no more than 1.66 percent resulting in a tax cap levy increase of 1.84 percent.  That, it appears, is as far as the district can go without overriding the tax cap at the polls.

                When all the figuring is through, then, the Administration says the District is left with a need to cut $1.6 million from the budget, so all of the non-staff cuts discussed in previous budget presentations during this cycle have now moved from the “potential” column to the “actual” column.  In addition, the budget as it now stands is calling for major cuts to sports and clubs at the Middle and High School levels, the elimination of six teaching assistants at the Elementary level and one at the Middle School level, and the elimination of the Community Liaison position, plus an additional $660,000 in cuts of teaching positions.

                How that $660,000 will be achieved has yet to be determined; however, an earlier list of potential reductions suggested cutting the entire PEP program along with 4 Elementary sections, an Elementary Art program, 2 Middle School teachers and 4 High School teachers would yield a total savings of $1,156,000; that’s $496,000 more than needed to close the gap, and it is here where the debate now seems to be going.  While the Administration told the Board it will look to the Board for guidance on what combination of possibilities from the list it should create to achieve the necessary budget savings, the Board raised the possibility that if all the cuts on the list were made, the extra $496,000 in savings conceivably could be used to restore cuts made last year to the guidance and library programs.  In essence, then, the possibility now exists that in effect a new budget could be crafted which would be cutting currently existing positions and programs in order to restore previously cut ones.  How it will be determined whether, for example, adding back some number of guidance and library positions is more valuable to the district than keeping the PEP program is not known.

                Further, there is an additional wrinkle to the matter:  the Administration’s current budgetary calculations presume the Board is going to vote to apply $1.4 million of its existing Fund Balance toward the new budget.  However, if the Board does so it will be left with just $1 million in reserves to deal with any unexpected costs – or to apply toward any future budgets, which in all likelihood are going to be as if not more difficult for the district.  The Board, it appears, has yet to formally decide how much, if any, of the Fund Balance will be applied toward the 2012-2013 budget, and that decision has the potential to further change the budget picture.

                The Board did ask the Administration to look into other cost-saving measures which can be pursued, such as reducing paper, printing and mailing costs, and the Administration said it would  do so.   Several members of the community urged the Board to adopt a budget which would necessitate an override of the tax cap, but in light of strong opposition to such a move from some in the community and the concerns about asking the community to approve an override of the cap at the same time as it is asked to approve a multi-million dollar bond issue for the repair of school roofs (a discussion of the bond issue was tabled until the next BOE meeting), it is not clear the Board feels that is a risk worth taking.  Once again, it was pointed out that under the new rules, a twice-defeated budget proposal will result in a budget with a 0% increase – and that if an override is called for, an approval rate of less than 60 percent counts as a defeat.

                The next meeting of the Board is slated for 8 PM on February 28 in the Schreiber auditorium.