2009-2010 School Year March 17, 2010 It feels like spring this week, but March can be very unpredictable. What we can predict are the improved educational opportunities and experiences available to our students this year. New and improved diversified programs for students with new classrooms and equipment as well as a distance learning room to increase our college course offerings. Grants that will bring Smartboard technology to many classrooms this spring helping teachers and students alike; a new and improved literacy initiative resulting in increased learning and comprehension in many of our classrooms; a Reading Recovery program that targets our first grade students with early intervention and extra help from first grade teachers working together to ensure success in later grades. All we need to keep this positive momentum going are the resources to adequately fund these positive endeavors. Then came the Governor’s budget ……………… The state is proposing to cut our aid by over $1.2 million for the upcoming school year. A decrease in revenues when mandated increases are prevalent is a tough pill to swallow. The retirement systems increase is approximately $270,000 greater than last year and our health benefits double digit increase translates into just over $300,000 more than last year. The challenges are great. Trying to deliver the maximum benefits for our students while revenues continue to plummet is never easy. Attempting to keep the tax levy down during economic downturns is equally difficult. Many districts, including ours, are reaching into their reserves to avoid major layoffs to enable minimal affects to programs for our students. Some are having major layoffs due to lack of reserves, while others are having major layoffs and reaching into their reserves. The long term problem facing school districts is not like any that we have seen in recent history. To safeguard the financial health of districts it is imperative to never underestimate your expenses or overstate your revenues. One of the major problems with school budgeting is that not all expenses/revenues are known by the time the Board adopts the budget in April. The tax levy is not set until August as so much of the information necessary to determine this comes during the summer, well after the budget vote. A major goal of all business officials and superintendents is to avoid major spikes in the tax levy. To do this during turbulent times requires management of established reserves and any money left over at the end of the school year referred to as fund balance. Proper financial management goes a long way in avoiding major spikes to deal with uncertain times. I have heard from colleagues who have no reserves left and are dealing with major staffing and program cuts. The question I am getting asked all the time is what percentage of your reserves and fund balance are you putting toward your 2010-11 revenues? Reserves are a nice thing to have, but once spent…. they are gone, unless you can replenish these with Fund Balance at the end of the school year. The dilemma then comes when the budget is cut so thin that you don’t have any fund balance at the end of the year and then you become a district without reserves. If the situation with the state doesn’t improve, our staffing and program levels are unsustainable. Proper balance is the main objective in school finance. Being able to do more with less is vital. Being financially ready to handle the unknowns such as fuel and utility cost spikes, special needs of our students, and mid-year cuts in state aid will help keep the balance required. Without a doubt, the 2010-11 budget has many challenges, but most agree that 2011-12 will be even more of a test as the federal stabilization and stimulus monies cease while state revenue projections are not good going forward. The Board of Education is working extremely hard to keep the tax levy as low as possible, while keeping our programs safeguarded for our student population. We are confident that we will be able to replenish a majority of reserves to a level necessary for the 2011-12 school year, but in order to keep this momentum, costs have to decrease in a lot of areas. We are making every effort to hold the line on spending. We are now paying our debt for the Capital Project and the projection from the time of voter approval was that the local tax levy would increase 3% for the life of the borrowing. Our increase to an A+ rating from Moody’s went a long way in saving over two million dollars in interest payments. We were able to establish a Debt Service Fund to help offset the local share associated with this project. The district is moving in a very positive direction, academically and financially, and we aim to keep this momentum going. I will be updating the information more frequently and please don’t hesitate to call me if you have specific questions. November 16, 2009 Time is certainly flying by as we enter the budgeting season. I would love to tell you that everything is just the way it should be as far as funding our student’s education, but as I read a current issue from a school district related newspaper, the headline read, “An Earthquake, a tornado, and a tsunami, mid-year cut could be first blow in school crisis.” Mid year cuts in our state aid could be coming our way for the second time in the last two decades. We had this threat last year, but given the state of the economy and the lack of revenues for the state, this could easily become a reality. Budgets were planned, state aid levels and the tax levy were set, and our residents voted on this information and now we are being told we may see a cut in revenue of $353,000. The Board of Education and the Superintendent have been very successful in delivering 0% increases in property tax revenues and even decreased this year’s tax levy by nearly 2%. This was done to help offset cuts in STAR Program funding that would have significantly increased tax bills to our residents. We were also able to weather the financial market’s storm. In a year that few were lending money, we had to fully bond our Capital Project. There was plenty of angst to go around as last year at this time school bonding rates were in excess of 6%. Rates decreased in the spring and we benefited from an upgrade in our bond rating to A+ status resulting in a 3.84% bond rate. This rate netted our taxpayers a $2.6 million savings compared to the pre-vote local share that was based on a 6% bond rate. Given our financial position at the end of the 2008-09 school year, we were able to increase our programming while avoiding staff cuts that affected many districts in our area. We were given an A+ bond rating because of our favorable financial position, but not only are we faced with a potential cut in our state aid; we are also facing major increases in costs associated with the two retirement systems for the 2010-11 budgets. All costs continue to go up as revenues from the state are going down leaving school districts with the unenviable task of trying to deliver essential programs without proper financial backing. School taxes are the only other way that the district receives money and New York already is one of the highest taxed states in the nation. The Federal stimulus money runs out in one year as well. The Hoosic Valley Central School district is not alone as all districts will suffer with lack of proper funding. We are facing stormy weather for the foreseeable future. We are fortunate to have reserves to alleviate some of the fiscal pain, but once spent, they are gone. We are doing everything possible to save money this year by prioritizing spending, cutting costs where we can, and looking for cheaper alternatives to doing business while properly maintaining our programs for our students. We face a lot of challenges, but this is not the first time and most likely, will not be the last. 2008-2009 School Year
May 29, 2009 - Post Vote Update |
Hoosic Valley Central School District
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I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the successful Board of Education candidates, Carolyn Stannard-Carlo and Ryan T. Bennett. I would be amiss if I didn’t say a heartfelt thank you to Wendy Calhoun and Bonnie Catone for their many years of service to the District and community. Board members serve for five year terms and that is a big commitment. I am impressed by our Board members’ knowledge and focus on our students and the realization of what needs to be done to move the District in a positive direction. Having worked with a Board in a previous life that made personal agendas and things other than the students their number one priority, I have found the Board of Education at Hoosic Valley to be a breath of fresh air. Hoosic Valley Central School District, Elementary and Jr. Sr. High School Buildings, earn the ENERGY STAR for Turning Energy Use into Savings Hoosic Valley Central School District’s Elementary and Jr. Sr. High School Buildings have earned the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA’s) prestigious ENERGY STAR, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy performance. Hoosic Valley Elementary and Jr. Sr. High School buildings join approximately 3,200 buildings nationwide that have earned the ENERGY STAR. To earn the ENERGY STAR, Hoosic Valley Central School took the following actions:
More than 3,200 buildings have earned the ENERGY STAR since 1999. These 3,200 ENERGY STAR buildings in all 50 states represent over 575 million square feet. In the U.S., energy loss from commercial buildings represents almost 18 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions.
2009-2010 Budget News -Feb. 13, 2009 February 2009
The challenges are great. My job is to do whatever possible to keep large spikes out of the year to year costs while maintaining programming for the maximum benefit to our student population. I am sure the State Legislature has a lot on its hands as we do. Our new President is talking about aiding the States in education and other key areas, but we are not assuming any help is coming. Keeping everyone informed is key to this budgeting process and Mr. Kelley and I met with 24 residents on January 29th to discuss the problems facing our district. There is another Superintendent’s Forum on the budget scheduled for February 26th. This meeting will take place in the High School library. I encourage everyone to attend so that I can share information and answer questions. I will be increasing the frequency of reporting on the district website now that the budget season is in full swing. I would like to update you on the current school year. You have surely noticed the price of gas and heating fuels have come way down from their July, 2008 levels. Because we top off the fuel tanks prior to the new school year which starts July 1, 2008, we don’t take delivery of any new fuel until September. Between September and December we saw a decrease in diesel fuel from $3.26 to $1.72 over the four months. The same with unleaded gas as the price went from $3.39 to $1.20. Our fuel prices are tax exempt and we receive government pricing. If we don’t experience a large increase in heating fuel, bus fuels, and utilities, we should be just fine in this area of the budget. Fixed costs make up 78% of our budget such as; salaries, retirement system payments, Social Security and Medicare, debt payments, and some insurance. These areas offer little control once staffing levels for program needs are met. There are three parts of the budget which are mainly out of our control and very difficult to forecast for an entire year. They are as follows: Utilities and fuels What we are doing to address these issues and control costs:
September 26, 2008 |
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