District Braces For Possible Mid-Year Budget Cuts





Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen ended the November 12th work session of the Garden City Board of Education on a gloomy note as he announced what had been widely reported by the media that day: Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed a cut of $585 million from state aid for public schools in an effort to close a serious budget deficit estimated to total $1.5 billion.

Since the work session, a special legislative session was held in Albany on Tuesday, Nov. 18. No action was taken after Gov. Paterson decided to postpone talks on his plan until after the Dec. 16 release of his spending proposals for 2009-10. The governor has stated that he would like the budget deficit eliminated before the fiscal year ends on March 31.

Gov. Paterson has devised a formula to determine how much of a district’s state aid will be cut. Districts will see an average cut of three to 10 percent. Garden City will likely be one of the 10 percent districts, and will have their aid reduced by approximately $500,000, said Al Chase, assistant superintendent for business and finance. Chase said the district experienced mid-year cuts in 1990-91 during former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s tenure.

Chase said the district plans to wait and see what happens in Albany before making any financial decisions. “In many ways we are financially stronger than a lot of other districts in the county,” he said.

Chase plans to review predicted expenditure levels in this year’s budget. There have been savings in staffing, which he says naturally occurs due to turnover and attrition. “It’s not a tremendous amount of money. It’s not $500,000,” he said.

Dr. Feirsen said residents should let their elected representatives know how they feel. He said this cut will be particularly troublesome since it comes almost at the halfway mark of the school year when all money has already been allocated. The tax levy, which was based on state aid, has been set and cannot be changed.

One way to deal with the cut will be to use money from the district’s fund balance, although it creates problems further down the line. “That creates a giant hole for us next year,” Dr. Feirsen explained.

Chase explained in an e-mail to the Garden City News that the district fund balance is a fund that school districts are allowed to retain as a contingency account in case of unexpected emergencies. School districts can keep up to four percent of the total amount of the budget for this purpose.

The district can keep approximately $3.8 million in this account. This isn’t four percent of every year’s budget, but rather four percent total over time, meaning that if next year’s budget rose to $100 million, the amount would increase from $3.8 million to $4 million.

Presently, the district has approximately 3.6 percent, or $3.4 million. “If, for example, the roof at the high school were to blow off, we would not have money in the budget to replace it, since the cost is over $2 million,” said Chase. “Having the fund balance, we would be able to ask the school board to approve the use of a portion of the $3.4 million to fix it. Likewise, if we experience cuts in state aid, we may need to take money from the same account so as to not make deep cuts in programs.”

“Essentially, the fund balance is like a savings account. Having a cap of four percent on this account is rather small; it is like allowing someone with a $50,000 income to only keep $2,000 in his or her bank account.”

Dr. Feirsen warned residents to be wary of cuts that do not appear to affect school districts, but in actuality will be of great significance. Dr. Feirsen gave the example of last year’s unsuccessful push by counties to have their contribution to preschool special education reduced. The counties fund a significant portion of this education; the school districts are responsible for coordinating the services. “It looked like it was helping out the counties, but that expense had to go somewhere,” he said. “Since we’re the lowest common denominator, it would have wound up on our doorstep.”




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