The Niskayuna Central School District is once again struggling to maintain programs and services offered to students, according to Superintendent Susan Kay Salvaggio.
The district is projecting a $6 million budget gap in the 2013-14 school year, which would require an 11.8 percent tax levy increase to close. But the district must contend with an estimated state tax cap of 3.4 percent, which would still require around $4.3 million to be cut.
To view the presentation from Niskayuna’s first community budget forum click here to directly download the PDF.
The Board of Education hosted its first community budget forum on Thursday, Jan 10, with Salvaggio outlining mandated educational programming. From the length of school days to course offerings, the district generally exceeds the minimum requirements.
“In Niskayuna, what is not mandated is valued,” Salvaggio said. “Much of what we provide to Niskayuna students defines our community. Our program and our services have been built over time by our outstanding staff, by our students and by our community.”
Salvaggio said district officials are trying to determine how to best maintain educational programming and extracurricular opportunities. The discussion is being started off by looking at what is the district is legally mandated to provide.
“You are going to see in a variety of places that what we offer exceeds the mandate and is in fact the program that defines our school,” Salvaggio said.
Kindergarten isn’t mandated, but the district offers full-day kindergarten. At the elementary level, the school day must be five hours exclusive of lunch. The day from kindergarten to fifth grade is six hours and 15 minutes, including lunch, at Niskayuna schools. For grades seven to 12, the mandate increases to five and a half hours, not including lunch. The district has schools days for sixth to eighth graders at nearly six and a half hours and ninth to twelfth grades at just over seven hours, including lunch.
The length of a school year must be 180 days and the district offers 182 student days, with an additional five days for teachers that include professional development.
Mandated transportation requirements are also far exceeded by the district. The state requires kindergarten to eighth grade students living more than 2 miles from school to be offered transportation. For high school students the state extends the limit to 3 miles.
Niskayuna offers transportation to all students except Van Antwerp students living within a half-mile of the school (90 students) and high school students living within one mile of the school (210 students).
Many people in attendance said they had trouble offering suggestions because they were unsure of the costs associated with programming.
Steve Markham, father of a Glencliff student, said he has noticed over the last several years some line items have increased much more than others. He said the district should focus on cutting down budget items that consistently grow compared to areas with only minimal growth each year.
“Some line items are really shortsighted and it is going to make us have painful discussions every year,” Markham said. “Let’s just do the painful thing once.”
Concerns were also expressed about increasing class sizes at the elementary level.
The district is conducting a community budget survey that is open through Friday, Jan. 24, and is available on the district’s website or by clicking here. At the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22, district officials will present information about the baseline budget and anticipated state aid to the district. A decision on the middle school configuration is expected at the board’s Jan. 22 or Feb. 5 meeting.