District outlines budget challenges for community
Next
forum to be held Feb. 29
Jan. 31, 2012
Nearly 100 Mohonasen teachers, administrators, staff members, parents and taxpayers attended – in person and online – the first of two community budget forums on Monday, Jan. 30. The forum provided an opportunity for community members to learn more about the challenges facing the district’s budget and offer feedback to the Board of Education and school administrators on possible budget scenarios for the 2012-2013 school year.
“This is the fourth year in a row that we’ll be facing a decline in our funding,” said Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Spring. Spring said Governor Andrew Cuomo’s claim that districts across the state will see a 4 percent increase in state aid isn’t accurate.
“In Mohonasen, the net gain is $180,000, which is about a 1.03 percent increase in our state aid,” she said. Spring said in addition to flat state aid over the past three years, the district is also faced with a gap elimination reduction adjustment of approximately $3.4 million, the loss of $843,000 in federal jobs money, as well as escalating costs associated with state mandates.
“As you can probably tell by that scenario, $180,000 is not going to solve our problems,” said Spring.
Spring said districts such as Mohonasen that are highly reliant on state aid get hit harder than other school districts because of an inequitable state aid funding formula. Approximately 41 percent of Mohonasen’s school budget comes from state aid.
“I’m not here to be doom and gloom, but you’re going to hear about scenarios like this across the state,” said Spring. “Districts are in a place where they’re saying they may not be able to operate. I’m not telling you that tonight about us, but I can tell you if something doesn’t change drastically in terms of the funding formula or serious mandate relief, we have about two to three years at best that we’ll be able to operate as a district.”
She urged taxpayers to contact legislators regarding mandate relief and the funding formula.
“When a school is the hub of a community, it’s what attracts people to live in a community,” said Spring. Failing to adequately fund schools “would be an economic disaster for Rotterdam.”
Spring also mentioned the possibility of doing an efficiency study with neighboring districts to look at a range of options such as shared services as well as other options including a merger, which she said could be a way for the district to save money in the future.
“The study would provide information for us to determine what options make sense, if any,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Denise Swezey, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Patrick McGrath and Administrator for Student & Operational Support Services Christopher Ruberti provided a short presentation, outlining the budgetary goals for the 2012-2013 school year, the upcoming budget development process and the fiscal outlook for the coming year.
Community members then broke into small discussion groups to provide feedback on which of four possible budget scenarios might strike the best balance between what the community desires in terms of educational programming and what taxpayers will likely support.
Jan. 30 forum materials
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PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)
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Mandates Information (PDF)
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Class Size Projections (PDF)
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Discussion Questions (PDF)
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Video of Presentation (Please note actual presentation starts a couple of minutes into the recording, at 2:37.)
http://breeze.neric.org/p73412420/ -
Video of Reporting Out (Please note actual reporting out starts a couple of minutes into the recording, at 1:45.)
http://breeze.neric.org/p58169895/
The second district forum will be held Wednesday, Feb. 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school’s Farnsworth Technology Center. Residents who plan to attend are encouraged to RSVP by emailing aleon@mohonasen.org or calling 356-8250.
