On May 15, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District voters will go to the polls to decide on a $50.2 million budget for the 2007-08 school year. The proposed budget is up 6.9 percent from the current year and will result in an average tax increase of 5.3 percent across the district’s four towns. For the homeowner with property currently assessed at $171,100, the budget calls for a tax increase of $162.
Most of the increase in this year’s budget comes from higher costs for staff, health insurance, utilities, BOCES services, and debt service. In addition to the budget, voters will consider a proposition to purchase four school buses and will elect four members to the board of education.
Months in process
The completed budget has undergone months of scrutiny that began last November. At that time, board members and school officials were struggling with projections of higher 2007-08 prices for fuel, utilities, health insurance, debt service and overall salary costs. In January, school board members received a complete set of preliminary 2007-08 budget figures that estimated an 8.6 percent budget-to-budget increase might be needed to carry existing programs forward one year. Principals and department heads also submitted 14 requests for more or different services.
Parents of students showed up regularly at winter school board meetings to give their views on priorities near and dear to their hearts. Primarily, that was advocating for small class sizes and enhanced sports opportunities.
Board president Elizabeth Herkenham encouraged parents to keep a watchful eye on the budget mapping process.
Parents have shown support for a true balance of athletics and scholastics, and the budget supports everything, said Herkenham during public comment time at a winter board meeting. `This isn’t just lip service; feel free to advocate for your children and also observe our budget dialogues as they begin. You’ll see the challenges we face. It’s all a balancing act to make the tough decisions about what our community can bear as far as school taxes.`
In March, the board went out to obtain input from the stakeholders ` members of the community. The superintendent’s recommended version of the budget was put before community forums for review by parents, residents and staff for their thoughts and recommendations.
At the first public forum in early March, about 30 residents, primarily parents of children in the schools, showed up to comment and give their list of high priority items. Among the district goals supported by the parents are keeping small classroom sizes, supporting sports and special education, and building the district’s fund balance for emergency expenses.
Unexpected windfall
Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed consolidating a number of school aid formulas into a new category called `Foundation Aid` and wanted to give all school districts at least a 3 percent increase in this aid. On April 1, the board of education learned the district will receive a 3.8 percent increase in Foundation Aid. The last step in the board’s budget discussion was deciding to apply this final 0.8 percent aid increase to reducing taxes this September and adding to the fund balance. This move improves the district’s ability to manage its finances.
The newfound funds, totaling $444,000 in state aid, will also allow the district to:
Restore the two elementary teaching positions that were cut from the current year’s budget. Only one of these would result in a net cost increase of $42,000. The second position will be funded by reallocating monies from the 2006-07 temporary teacher assistant solution to class size concerns.
Hire an additional half-time special education teacher for $26,000 to provide mandated service to disabled pupils.
Add $6,000 for after-school supervision of pupils using the high school’s popular and often crowded fitness center. This is a student safety priority.
Hire a teacher assistant for $23,900 to work with 7th and 8th graders most at risk of not meeting state testing standards.
Add 0.2 full-time-equivalent math teaching service for $10,400 to allow the high school to transition to the state’s new required math course sequence.
Allocate $30,000 for increased technology support at the three elementary schools to ensure equipment is classroom-ready.
Provide $12,000 to pay the salaries of four lacrosse coaches (varsity and junior varsity girls and boys teams). These changes will allow the district to make several improvements or address high priority needs. However, they will not restore all the funds that were cut in creating the current year’s budget. Several areas will continue to be funded at 2005-06 or earlier levels.
District gets good grades
`The Capital District Business Review` last year ranked BH-BL third out of 85 school districts, top grades the district continues to earn.
`For over a decade, BH-BL has consistently scored among the top ten area districts in this annual ranking,` said Jim Schultz, superintendent of schools.
Schultz also cited the following attributes of the district:
A stable and desirable community with rising property values, which protects and enhances the investment residents have made in their home.
Well-prepared graduates, whose accomplishments, for example, earned Class of 2006 members $515,780 in college scholarships.
Investment in a workforce with the skills graduates need to be competitive whether they enter the global market or stay in the BH-BL community because they want the same opportunities for their children.
A high school where 93 percent of pupils (including many special education pupils) earn Regents diplomas, where 90 percent of graduates go to college, and where the annual dropout rate has been 1.5 percent or below for many years, even under today’s tougher graduation requirements.
A comprehensive high school where pupils can study accounting, carpentry, graphic arts, cooking, electronics, music theory, marketing and computer science in addition to required courses, where 32 courses offer students a chance to earn college credits while still in high school, and where 70 percent of the student body is so interested in learning they choose to fill every block of their schedule with courses and take no study halls.
Athletes who value academic achievement too, as evidenced by this year’s interscholastic teams, who have all earned `Scholar-Athlete` status by having a team grade point average above 90 percent.
Investments in energy efficiency to reduce costs and a growing use of `green` products to provide a cleaner environment for our grandchildren.
Investments in children’s long-term health and fitness through health and physical education curricula, a wide array of sports opportunities, healthy lunch options, and obesity prevention partnerships with parents.
Investment in a school community that teaches civic values like service to others, honesty, responsibility and integrity.
Schools where the Code of Conduct is both clearly articulated and followed, so that students learn from the consequences of their actions.
Schools where students not only earn some of the best test scores in the Capital District, but they do it at one of the lowest cost per pupil figures in the area.
In 2003-04, the most recent year for which comparative data is available, BH-BL spent $11,521 per pupil, less than the average for either Saratoga County, Schenectady County or Suburban Council schools.
Dollars and sense
The proposed 2007-08 budget of $50,243,630 represents a 6.9 percent increase over the current year’s budget of $46,988,583.
Nearly all of the increase comes from staff compensation, benefits, utilities, BOCES services and debt service.
Here is the specific breakdown:
Compensation for staff, coaches, tutors and substitutes will increase by $1,359,785 or 5.2 percent. This increase includes several new positions described below with a cost of $120,300. A whopping 76 percent of the total budget goes for salaries and benefits.
2007-08 health insurance costs are projected to rise by 8.5 percent, or $456,320. However, these costs would have risen by an additional $140,000 had the district not decided to increase the co-pay that most staff are charged when they visit the doctor.
Pension costs are rising by $95,113 or 3.8 percent. The state-required employer contribution rates vary each year as economic factors (principally the stock market) vary.
Social Security costs (FICA and Medicare) are shared 50/50 by employer and employee under federal regulations. The district’s share of this cost will rise by $87,574 or 4.3 percent in 2007-08.
The cost of BOCES services and private special education placements is growing by 8 percent, or $257,374, primarily due to rising tuition for pupils in some special education and vocational programs.
Heating fuel and electricity are increasing by $70,000 or 4.6 percent the proposed budget. This increase would have been much larger were the district not a member of an energy purchasing consortium and had not installed high-efficiency boilers at the secondary schools.
Debt service costs vary each year based on district efforts to borrow voter-authorized funds for renovations and new buses at the lowest possible rate. In 2007-08, the district must make its first principal payment on 2003 renovations bond projects. Due to this, debt service costs are increasing in 2007-08 by $826,153, but a large part of this increase will be offset by a corresponding revenue increase of $474,000 in additional state building aid.
Budget goes to polls
If the proposed budget is defeated at the polls on May 15, the board of education would have three legal options. It could decide to put the same budget before the voters a second time, put a revised budget before the voters, or go directly to a contingent budget. New contingent budget rules mean that the BH-BL Board of Education would have to cut $297,955 from the proposed budget. In this case, taxes on a median value home (assessed at
$171,100) would increase by 4.9 percent or $150.“