By Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School District released the first draft of its 2015-2016 budget. Total spending under this budget is $23,197,818. This is $710,733 more than this year’s budget, an increase of 3.2%.
[private]Salaries will be up by $314,413, an increase of 3%. Health insurance is going up by about 10%, which will add $432,000 to the budget. But luckily, the levies from the state for the retirement system are 16.6% lower next year than they were this year, so that will provide a savings of $348,740. Non-personnel expenses will be going up by $243,418, which is just under 8%.
The increased cost is not coming from increases in the school’s program. The program changes balance out to a net decrease in cost. The increased cost comes from the routine cost increases that happen every year, like salary increases and health insurance increases.
Changes in the program include replacing seven retiring teachers and 2 retiring support staff, which reduces the budget by a total of $194,620, and adding additonal mentors for the new teachers, which increases it by $13,387. This net savings of about $180,000 is offset by hiring one new full-time College and Career Counselor and three additional Teacher Aides, as well as a new utility tractor with multiple attachments and a new floor cleaning machine. After all these things are balanced off, the result is a net decrease in the budget from program changes of $28,231.
The budget estimates a tax levy increase of 10.33%, but no one intends to pass a budget with an increase of that size. The District has not received any estimates of what State aid will be for next year, so they are using State aid runs from last year, showing a cut in aid of $136,440. It seems unlikely that aid will be cut in a year with a significant budget surplus, but there is no guidance coming from state officials about what to expect. School Business Administrator Pam Hatfield, who’s been through the budget process many times in her career, said, “I’ve never had so little information on where aid is going.” The level of uncertainty about how much aid will be forthcoming from the State is at an unprecedented level. Until this is clarified, the District will not be able to come up with a realistic figure for the tax levy increase. The tax cap limitation for the Hoosick Falls District is 2.51%, so the best guess is that the tax levy increase will end up slightly under that figure
Although everyone was trying not to slam the Governor in public, it was clear that the administrators and Board members were frustrated with the uncertainty being generated by the Governor’s antics in relation to the education system.
School Superintendent Ken Facin said the Governor’s message was that the Schools would get no aid increase unless teacher evaluations are done the way he wants them done. Facin said he seems to want outside professionals to do evaluations rather than administrators who are already working in the building. Facin wondered who is going to pay these evaluators. Statewide, this would be an enormous new expense.
Facin also wondered why there has been no mention of repealing or reducing the Gap Elimination Adjustment. This was instituted as an emergency measure in the budget crisis under Governor Paterson many years ago, but now that the State has a budget surplus, there is very little talk about ending it. Facin said if the GEA were eliminated, it would raise state aid in the Hoosick Falls District by over a million dollars.
Facin said when the Governor was campaigning, he said that under his leadership, if you are a high-performing school, you will be rewarded. But that has not happened.
There will be a Board work session on the budget March 5, and the Board will work on the budget at its regular meeting March 19, aiming for budget adoption at the regular meeting on April 16. But the missing piece so far has been clarity on what to expect for State aid.
Substitute Pay
The Board approved a raise in pay for the District’s substitute teachers. Since the 2008-09 school year substitute teacher pay has ranged from $60 to $90 per day depending on whether the teacher is certified and whether he/she has a bachelor’s degree. Certified teachers are now $100 per day, and uncertified teachers are $75 if they have a BA, $70 if not.
Parents As Reading Partners
The Hoosick Falls PTA gave the District $1,000 to be used for the 2014-2015 Parents as Reading Partners program, which encourages early reading.
Wood Pellet Boiler
Board Member John Helft said the pellet boiler has been installed and all the piping is hooked up. Technicians were finishing up the final wiring details, and he said he hoped they would be able to fire it up this week. Superintendent Ken Facin said he is excited to see the project near completion, and is delighted to see the District’s dollars going into the local economy, with the boiler fabricated in Troy and the pellets coming from Utica.[/private]