BETHLEHEM — School departments will compete for increased funding, as the Board of Education’s proposed budget for the 2016-17 year will have money to spare, thanks to a partial restoration of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA).
In the coming weeks, the board will hear from the athletic, transportation and maintenance, special education and K-12 education departments as each present their funding requests.
“This year the budget did not have to draw from the fund balance, which was a goal the district has been reaching toward for many, many years,” said Judith Kehoe, the district’s chief financial officer, at the Wednesday, Feb. 24, School Board meeting – the first of several budget meetings to come.
A $919,000 increase in state aid is estimated to be received, for a total of $25.5 million. And, after a year that saw district revenues rise due to tax base growth, total revenue is up by over $300,000. Thus, the district estimates it will stay under the 1.45 percent tax levy limit – the lowest since the state tax cap was instituted several years ago.
“We will not be looking at dramatic program reductions. There are no anticipated cuts to staff based on fiscal needs,” said Kehoe, listing the aforementioned budget features. “All in all [it is] a relatively stable picture.”
The largest factor aiding that assessment is the return of state funding to the district, as part of another incremental restoration of the GEA.
The GEA, introduced in 2009 by former Gov. David Patterson, cut state funding to schools in an effort to fill the state’s $10 million deficit during the height of the economic crisis. Clarksville Elementary School was closed and 36 teaching positions were cut as a result of the loss of nearly $3 million in state funds to the Bethlehem Central School District.
Last year, when the GEA was partially restored (six years after it was introduced), the additional $2.3 million restored to the budget allowed the district to replace 12 teaching positions and eliminate the $1.4 million fund balance use that had been part of the previous year’s budget.
Based on current aid estimates, only $361,000 more is now needed to completely restore the GEA, said Kehoe, provided that the governor’s current estimates for aid remain in place. Many believe and are hopeful that the final amount of state aid received for the next academic year will be even greater.
“I remember years where the gap was $7 million, so we’ve come a long way – largely in part to the efforts by the staff to develop budgets that resulted in significant savings and the support of the community,” said School Board Vice President Charmaine Wijeyesinghe.
“Ultimately, when you don’t have that state aid, that means a greater tax burden, so any aid we can get back is a good thing,” said Board Member Joanne Cunningham.
The highly anticipated additional restoration means the district is now able to consider department funding requests as they start approaching the board in coming weeks.
And, these new projects will come on top of the district’s $20 million worth of capital improvement projects which were approved at the polls in March 2013.
Renovations were made throughout the district, including this past summer’s field and drainage improvements; refurbished football stadium, track and tennis court at the high school; kitchen, bathroom and gym updates at the four elementary schools; repair of outdoor masonry at the middle and high schools; construction of a new maintenance and transportation building; and completion of the second phase of repairs to the middle school pool.
About 70 percent of the project was bonded for, leaving residents to pay as estimated $17.03 in increased taxes until the remaining 30 percent of the project, until the sum is paid off.