Hiring two new full-time administrators, three new custodians, and expanding the high-school alternative education program are all part of the initiatives the Bethlehem school district handed to the citizens budget committee for its review.
The 40-member committee, consisting of taxpayers, parents, teachers, school administrators and community leaders, met Tuesday, Jan. 27, and began to work its way through each proposal and pages of updated budget information in order to understand the school budget before a plan is presented to voters.
We want our work with you to be totally transparent, said Superintendent Les Loomis, who provided the committee with baseline projections for the district’s 2007-2008 budget. Among the list of priority items to be added to the existing budget were the addition of three middle school teachers, a payroll clerk, a technology specialist and new custodians, along with restoring funding for ice hockey, cheerleading, gymnastics and field trips.
Leadership changes at the high school and adding an alternative education program were also among the proposals.
The estimated cost of all these moves totals more than $520,000.
Three new teachers at the middle school would address the increasing enrollment and allow the school to complete four full teams of teachers at each grade level.
`The high school has grown from 1,100 students to 1,750 students, and the middle school has grown from 800 students to 1,300 students,` said Loomis.
Other proposed changes include converting four part-time dean positions at the high school to two full-time grade level leaders, and converting three part-time house leaders at the middle school to two full-time leaders.
`We have a lot of new programs and intervention services,` said Jody Monroe, middle school principal. `Two additional full-time people over part-time people, I think, would be a huge advantage.`
Committee member Laura Bierman asked what benefit her son or daughter might receive from these new administrative positions.
`Who do parents call, what is the chain of command?` asked Bierman. `If people can understand it and get concrete answers, I think it can sell.`
Board president Stuart Lyman said one of the challenges the board faces is distilling the in-depth information and passing it on to the community.
`Our problem is how to share that information with the community in an effective way, and I am hoping this group can do that,` Lyman said.
How to approach the senior community and voters without children enrolled in the district are other areas the citizens committee grapples with.
`Is there ever going to be a time when you propose a budget with no increase?` asked Mary Degroff, a senior citizen representative.
Officials said basic annual increases in cost of living, employee contracts, health insurance and energy costs would most likely prohibit any budget from ever staying the same. Loomis said the town of Bethlehem has been very active in trying to expand the tax base into the future.
`I have never seen a community more active in attracting development,` said Loomis.
Town Comptroller Judith Kehoe, who represents the town on the committee, fielded questions regarding town assessments and why the school district did not receive a financial benefit from the latest reassessments.
Kehoe said that when reassessments were completed, some assessments may have gone up, but the overall school tax rate went down.
`In the fall of 2005, the Bethlehem school tax rate was $27.74 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In the fall of 2006 after reassessments, the Bethlehem school tax rate dropped to $17.40 per $1,000 of assessed valuation,` Kehoe said.
The advisory committee will continue its meetings with the school board until a 2007-2008 budget is complete. For information, visit www.bcsd.k12.ny.us“
