The Niskayuna Central School District’s Board of Education unanimously adopted the 2009-2010 budget at the Monday, April 6, meeting. The recommended budget comes in at $74,489,303, an increase of 1.47 percent over last year’s budget of, making it the lowest spending increase in a decade.
We have been focused on [budget development] since December, said Jeanne Susnow, Niskayuna Board of Education vice president. `I want to compliment our administration and our leadership team. They handled this very well in terms of approaching it and really looking at what we could cut and what the impact would be on students and prioritizing how we can make these changes so that we do it with the least impact on these kids as possible.`
The proposed budget increase raises the tax levy by about 2.45 percent. This is the lowest tax levy increase tax payers have seen in six years. Under the budget proposal, a Niskayuna resident with a home assessed at $250,000 would pay $98 more in their school taxes for this coming year.
`What’s happened on the revenues side is that the state aid has stayed flat ` there are some increases in operating aid, but the general foundation aid has stayed flat,` said Susnow. `We’re getting a little less from the state so we need a little more from our homeowners so the 2.45 percent increase is less than the increase that we had last year.`
Susnow said the district is pleased with the numbers considering the stark economic times.
This figure does not include STAR reductions.
District officials eliminated nearly $1.2 million from their preliminary budget to reduce costs.
`We did make a net adjustment in personnel of about 13 positions ` the majority of those are in teaching assistants, and we track hours, so it doesn’t necessarily reflect eight people,` said Susnow.
`We have retirements and we have resignations, and that enabled us to make most of these changes without actually laying people off.`
She said that there are two administrative positions that are being eliminated. One position that the district is not filling immediately is the director of guidance in counseling and the other is a technology position.
Superintendent of Schools Kevin Baughman said that given the `precarious economic climate` in the state and nation, this is one of the most challenging budgets he has had to work with in recent memory.
`The administration and staff collaborated throughout this difficult process to prioritize and develop a budget that is fiscally conservative, while continuing to move our district forward with important initiatives that will benefit the children of our district,` said Baughman in a written statement. `We recognize that long-term planning is necessary to preserve and protect our instructional program in this era of economic uncertainty. As such, we believe the proposed budget provides the district a position of stability for the coming years.`
However, despite budget cuts, the district was able to put into place some new programs intended to strengthen and enrich academic opportunities for students.
`We are introducing at the elementary level a new enrichment program for kids who excel. We have had a study going on about a BOCES ALPHA program for gifted kids, and we’re taking the funding we have been spending in those areas and shifting it to an in-house program,` said Susnow. `What we’re pleased about is we are also able to go forward with some programs just by shifting resources around.`
The district accomplished this through the reallocation of funds.
She said the district is also introducing a foreign language pilot program for first- and second-grade students. Sessions will be seven weeks long, and the instructor will be a teacher from the high school.
Other new programs include additional high school courses, such as introduction to medical science, Russian language and AP human geography; a mentoring program for new teachers and administrators; and a districtwide recycling program.
`We’re very pleased that despite having to tighten our belts, we were still able to move forward with programs,` said Susnow.
The Board of Education will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, at the Van Antwerp Middle School auditorium at 2254 Story Avenue to discuss the budget.
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