Final community budget forum sees differing opinions
Bethlehem Central School District officials got one last earful from the public at the final of three community budget forums Tuesday, Feb. 9, before launching into the nuts and bolts of the 2010-11 budget process.
Keeping in the forums’ theme of What Matters Most? Superintendent Michael Tebbano spent much of the forum posing to the audience the more difficult questions that had arisen during the preceding forums.
Most of the queries involving facility use, transportation and extracurricular activities saw opposing points of view presented by the residents, district staff and teachers at the meeting. Few ideas would be able to be implemented in the coming year, Tebbano said, but officials are looking to the future with no end to the ongoing state fiscal crisis in sight.
`We’re looking at many out of the box ideas,` Tebbano said. `We need to start thinking in a more visionary way.`
Budget reductions in the coming year will likely mean fewer teachers for the district, leading Tebbano to outline scenarios to make the most of resources. One idea would be to offer lecture-sized classes and distance learning opportunities.
Resident and SUNY Albany teacher Ewan McNay said he would be pleased if his students entered college knowing how to handle large class sizes.
`It would be fantastic if they had any experience sitting lecture halls and taking notes,` he said.
Several BC teachers in the audience said lecture hall classes would not be appropriate for most students at the high school or middle school level, at least not before senior year.
`As freshmen, they come in and they already don’t know how to study,` said high school teacher Kim Wise.
Tebbano also opened the floor to opinions about how to utilize the district’s six elementary schools. There has been much discussion about how to even out class sizes and deal with teacher reductions, with options including closing a school, redistricting, multiage classrooms or using floating district lines.
Several residents said floating district lines or policies that would shuffle kids from school to school would be unfair to both parents and students.
Tebbano said he wished to dispel rumors that the district is in negotiations to sell Clarksville Elementary to the Voorheesville Central School District.
`I don’t ever remember mentioning in the last few meetings or at any meetings that we’re going to sell Clarksville to Voorheesville,` he said. `The Voorheesville schools and I have not been talking.`
He added such a sale would require a district wide vote.
The issue of transportation costs was also raised, but many questioned what kind of savings could be squeezed out of this part of the budget. One often-mentioned option would be to increase the walking distance from schools. There is no walking distance for elementary schools and a half-mile walking distance for the middle and high schools.
`The buses are still going to have to drive the same distance. How many gallons of gas are we really going to save?` countered resident Colleen Cook.
Others said the district should be looking to save every dollar possible.
Some wondered if more radical options could be pursued, such as letting high school students who have their own cars opt out of bus transportation.
Transportation Supervisor Al Karam explained many of the transportation services the district provides are mandated by state law.
`The state law says you cannot give up that which you have the right to,` he said. `We have to provide transportation.`
Any change to the walking distances would have to be approved by voter referendum.
Tebbano asked the audience whether sports teams that have community group equivalents should be eliminated for a cost savings. This idea also garnered a mixed reaction, with some saying student who live outside the Town of Bethlehem borders might not have such opportunities.
Other audience members said the district should focus on retaining intramurals sports because they offer an opportunity for participation for more students than varsity teams, while others pointed out that varsity sports open the door to college for some students.
The budget administrators will be presenting to the Board of Education later this month will include the controversial `Tier 3` reductions discussed during last year’s budget process in order to realize about $2.4 million in savings, which would cover the cuts Gov. David Paterson’s executive budget proposes.
The reductions include many of the painful cuts the district was able to avoid last year, however, including staffing reductions. 11 to 14 teachers would be laid off under the plan, as well as six aides, one administrator, a tech aide and a clerical position at the district offices. Monday and Friday late buses would stop running, some athletics teams would be eliminated and the middle school pool would probably be closed.
`The problem is, what are we going to do next year when we’re done with Tier 3,` Tebbano said.
The public will vote May 18 on a budget the Board of Education will adopt in March. If that budget is voted down, the district can either present another budget for approval or move directly to a contingency budget, which is subjected to state formulas to generally allow for inflation while keeping spending in line with the previous year.
Chief Business and Financial Officer Judith Kehoe explained that because of declining debt service and other unusual factors, the contingency budget would likely drop to about $86.8 million from this year’s $88 million budget.
`A contingency budget is not a pretty picture,` Tebbano said. `If the budget goes down, it will be a much more serious impact.`
The Board of Education will meet every Wednesday through the month of March to discuss different areas of the budget. The meetings will be open to the public. The board is scheduled to adopt a budget on March 24 or 31. Details of the budget workshops can be found on the district’s Web site, www.bcsd.k12.ny.us.
“
