The Colonie Central School district will send an $89.4 million budget to voters in May, a spending plan with less than a 1 percent increase in expenditures.
There is a proposed tax levy increase of 3.25 percent for Colonie residents, 5.05 percent for Niskayuna residents and 7.15 percent for Guilderland residents.
The district held a series of workshops beginning in January to help come up with a budget to present to voters.
For the last six months this has been a long and demanding process for everyone involved, Superintendent John Buhner said.
He said a lot of hard work went into the budget process with the ultimate goal of `protecting academic integrity.`
The budget was difficult and forced school officials to `often times mak[e] decisions we really did not want to make,` Buhner said.
Despite facing a $3.7 million reduction in state aid, Buhner said the budget going to voters on May 18 includes some cuts in order in expenses to offset excessive tax hikes.
`As a district we are sensitive to the financial challenges that our community is facing in this recession and we realize that the massive reduction in state aid should not result in significantly higher property taxes, Buhner said. `With that said, we have made approximately $3 million in reductions to the district’s overall expenses.`
District officials are also planning to use half of its fund balance- $4.5 million to help offset some of the state aid cuts.
`I do believe we have built a sound budget,` he said.
The budget calls for the elimination of eight Kindergarten through sixth grade positions, eight grade seven through 12 positions, two teaching assistant positions, 6.9 special-education teaching assistant positions and the elimination of 20 temporary and probationary monitor positions, the BOCES safety administrator and the operation and maintenance supervisor, according to information from the district.
They are also calling for reductions in evening building monitors, clerical support at the high school, energy costs, transportation and athletics among other areas.
There will be no kindergarten through sixth grade summer school and BOCES Arts in Education and enrichment programs if the proposed budget passes.
In-house arts and music enrichment will be `preserved` according to the district, though.
In the midst of the planned cuts federal lawmakers are discussing a $23 billion education jobs bill from Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Harkin is chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee and of the Senate appropriations panel for education initiatives. The `Keep Our Educators Working Act` was introduced on Wednesday, April 14 and both Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand are co-sponsors on the bill.
`This country is about to face a massive wave of layoffs in our schools and institutions of higher learning that could weaken our economic recovery and cause serious damage to our education system,` Harkin said. `This bill is an investment in our kids, in our economy and in our future.`
Bergen Kenny, a spokesperson for Harkin said hopefully the bill will move through the Senate quickly, as decisions about education are being made now, not in a few months. A corresponding House of Representatives bill was passed in the winter, she said.
`Kids only get an education once,` Kenny said. With 320,000 education jobs pending elimination, she said Harkin is concerned for their future. Wall Street and automotive companies were given federal funding, and the education of young people is just as important, Kenny said.
There will be a public hearing on the proposed South Colonie budget at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 4, at Saddlewood Elementary School.
Voting will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 18th, at each of the district’s five elementary school buildings.
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