Bethlehem Central School District’s 2015-16 budget is assuming state aid will remain flat at roughly $23.35 million.
State aid levels to districts are typically released shortly after the governor’s budget proposal, which has allowed district’s to map a starting point. At the school board’s Feb. 4th meeting, district Chief Business and Financial Officer Judi Kehoe presented an overview of next year’s budget without the familiar baseline.
“What you will hear tonight, other than our general theme of uncertainty as it relates to our state aid, … our fiscal position in fact is notably improved from prior years,” said Kehoe.
Superintendent Thomas Douglas claimed a close examination of the governor’s budget revealed that if the state legislature did pass all of his education reforms there would be no increase in state aid to schools.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said state aid would increase $377 million even if his reforms were not passed.
Kehoe said after the meeting several organizations have reviewed Cuomo’s budget and concluded there would be no state increase unless all the reforms were passed. Robert Lowry, deputy director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, recently expressed the same conclusion.
The preliminary gap next year is just over $1.92 million for a rollover budget totaling $93.64 million, which does not include any increase in property taxes. District officials are somewhat uncertain about where its tax cap falls, due to various uncertainties from the state, but ranges from a 0.74 percent decrease to a 2.02 percent increase.
If the school board sought a 2 percent tax increase, the district’s budget gap would shrink to $725,000. Any increase in state aid would further reduce its gap, and board members could allocate fund balance to help close it.
Douglas urged community members to watch the budget process and not be alarmed over initial projections.
“Our gap may grow at first, especially when we don’t have the financial reports that we have come to rely on to give us the best predictability,” Douglas said. “We will end up making sure that we have a strong financial picture and a strong educational picture for our community, but yet try to make sure we live within the emphasis of the tax cap.”
Douglas urged school board members to work towards “fully” funding extracurricular activities and athletic programs, so there is less reliance on fundraising efforts of individual groups and teams.
Fringe benefits are projected to cost the district less next school year, with a 3.3 percent reduction largely tied to reduced pensions costs. Benefits are estimated to total $22.76 million.
