HFCS Budget Proposes A 2.5% Tax Levy Increase

by Alex Brooks
A Public Hearing on the Hoosick Falls School District’s budget for the 2011-12 school year was held at the school on May 5. Total spending is $762,000 less than last year, which brings it under $20 million. State aid for operating expense will pay $7.824 million of that, which is $892,600 (a little over 10%) less than last year. The local tax levy will be $8,740,410, which is 2.5% or $213,415 more than last year. This is the first budget in recent memory in which the local tax levy will contribute more to the budget than will State operating aid.
To achieve this reduction in expenditures, the District has eliminated 11½ teaching positions. In his presentation, Superintendent Ken Facin talked about how some of those decisions were made.
Two special education teaching positions will be eliminated. Facin said that is because “we are changing the structure of our special education program.” He said most kids are in regular classes now, rather than in segregated classrooms. He said, “This model requires less teachers, and we’re getting better results.”
He said the District added a Spanish teacher a few years ago so that the students could start learning Spanish in seventh grade. Facin said he felt this was an improvement but one that the District cannot afford in the present circumstances, so the new position in Spanish is eliminated and the District will go back to the old system in which Spanish instruction begins in the eighth grade.
He said the District used to require a course in keyboarding but has discontinued the course and the requirement because kids learn to type on their own now because everyone uses computers so much. This allowed the District to discontinue one business teacher position.
Facin said the District was able to eliminate one reading teacher because student results are improving, so less remedial reading work with the students is needed.
Facin said, “It is painful to go out with a 2.5% tax levy increase.” He said it comes down to balancing the needs of the community with the needs of the students. He reminded the public that Thomas Jefferson always said the key to a strong republic is an educated populace. This budget, he said, “Gives us an opportunity to continue to improve our results.”
Facin said when the NYS Legislature added more State aid for education back into the budget, above what the Governor had proposed, that money was not distributed in an equitable way. He said there was no formula – it was done in a political manner. Hoosick Falls got only $68,000 additional. He mentioned a smaller neighboring district with a less needy population which got twice as much additional money, and other local districts which got a lot more for no apparent reason. He said any additional State aid that had come in at that point in the budget cycle would have gone directly to reducing the tax levy.
Report Card
The Fiscal Accountability Supplement to the District’s School Report Card was handed out. It showed that the Hoosick Falls District’s instructional expenditures per pupil for regular education for 08-09 (the most recent year in the State’s database) were $8,485 compared to an average of $9,645 for similar schools and a State average of $10,874. For Special Education Hoosick Falls spent $19,620 per pupil compared to an average of $25,558 for similar schools and a State average of $26,551.
Total expenditures per pupil were $15,486, compared to an average of $17,709 for similar districts and a State average of $19,381.
Public Comment
Rye Mausert Sr. noted that the District is applying $1.765 million of fund balance money to the budget for the second year in a row and asked if that will be sustainable in years to come. Business Manager Pam Hatfield said there are too many unknowns to answer with confidence a question about the following year’s budget, but she said she tries to be conservative and to plan her budgeting many years in advance. The only thing in the upcoming year’s budget which is a “one shot” item is $489,000 of extra funding from the Federal government from the “Education Jobs” bill.
Facin said he expects pressure on school finances to continue. He doesn’t expect much increase in State aid next year, and it is likely that the property tax cap will be passed this year. He noted that certain things in the school budget, such as retirement assessments from the teachers pension fund, health insurance premiums and energy and fuel costs, are going up significantly each year but are mostly beyond the control of the local school board. He said if the State wants to help school districts to control their costs, they should take a serious look at mandate relief. The New York State School Boards Association has recently released a series of proposals in this area, to which Facin said lawmakers should give careful consideration.
The School Board urged all citizens of the District to come out and vote on the budget.
School Board Election
Also on the ballot will be three School Board seats. School Board President David Sutton and Vice President John Helft are both running for re-election to their Board seats, and the unexpired term of Rye Mausert Jr. is up for election. It has been filled by appointment since Mausert’s resignation by Beth Stacy, but she is not running in this election. Former School Board President Greg Laurin is also running for a School Board seat.