Executive Budget Proposal

Yesterday districts received the “executive run” for school aid for 2012-2013. The net impact for us will be an increase of around 2.6%, which is certainly an improvement over the past several years.
While I do not want to appear to be ungrateful for the efforts of our local representatives to advocate for a more equitable distribution of state aid, it is clear that the governor’s proposal continues to leave us in a crisis mode. The budget proposal again includes a GEA, gap elimination adjustment. While it is not as bad as last year’s $977,000, it is still a take-away of $802,000 from foundation aid. (I have shared my belief that the GEA should really be titled GCA – gap CREATION adjustment. It is the stealing from districts’ foundation aid to fix the state’s fiscal issues, which creates gaps for our students!)
Additionally, $250 million of the $805 million increase that the governor proposed is set aside for competitive grants. Rural districts cannot compete against the wealthier districts in this competitive process that the governor continues to try and promote. With the loss of federal stimulus monies, past cuts in state aid, and new limits with the tax cap, it is essential that we receive sufficient state aid. I have asked our representatives to advocate that the entire increase be distributed to districts based on need!
Overall, I am hopeful that there is a recognition that the distribution of state aid needs to be corrected. I think the governor’s proposal is a start, but it is clear that the governor’s budget continues to force our us to look at further cuts in student programs while wealthier districts, that rely less on state aid, continue to offer undiminished opportunities for their students.

Fiscal Challenges Continue

   The 2011-2012 school year is almost ¼ over, which is hard to believe.  It has been an excellent start, and a lot of great things are happening.  As I write this article both of our girls’ fall sports teams are celebrating winning sectional titles.  Fourteen students were recently inducted in the honor society.  The middle-high students are putting finishing touches on the fall play, “Alice in Wonderland”.  Students in the elementary school are busy preparing for the Veterans Luncheon. 

    All of this is happening in spite of the severe cuts in state aid which are falling heavily on high-needs, rural districts such as Morrisville-Eaton.  We have a marvelous staff and supportive community who have helped us manage the cuts as best we can.  However, I believe it is fair to say that unless we get some help from Albany, our situation is on the verge of becoming a true crisis.  Wealthy districts continue to thrive and offer robust programs, while high needs districts are forced to continue cutting critical programs and draw down district reserves to dangerous levels.    Those who have followed all of my communications over the past 3 ½ years know that this is the first time I have used such dire language.  That is because we can no longer cut without negatively impacting our students’ educational opportunities. 

    Senator Valesky recently shared a letter with me that he sent to Governor Cuomo.  He says, “I have become aware of a potential crisis looming as a result of a ‘perfect storm’ of cuts in state aid and the newly enacted property tax cap that is unique to rural areas.”  He concludes by urging the governor to consider the consequences that, “…are threatening the existence of rural schools.”  The full letter is posted on my blog on the following link. Senator Valesky Letter 

    The Board of Education is committed to continue to do all it can to maintain the best educational opportunities possible.  In the coming months they are going to hold special Board meetings to deal specifically with this looming fiscal crisis.  The first of these meetings will be held on November 15th at 8:00 p.m. in the middle/high school library.  The focus of the first meeting will be to look at our extra-curricular programs.  The public is invited to attend.  In addition to listening to the analysis and discussions there will be multiple opportunities for questions and comments from the community. 

    We continue to prepare to enter a merger study with Hamilton Central.  We are also going to actively pursue other areas of potential savings in the case that a merger does not occur.  We will not rest in our efforts to provide our students with a quality education.  We certainly encourage everyone in our community to let Albany know that we will not stand idly and allow our state to sacrifice educational opportunities for rural children.

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Modified Football jerseys

The combined M-E/Hamilton modified football team will be wearing away jerseys which were provided courtesy of the State University of New York at Morrisville.  In these difficult financial times the money saved by using these jerseys can be used to provide other opportunities for our students.

Like at the varsity level, both districts are sharing the cost of funding the football program this year.  Given that partnership the Morrisville-Eaton-Hamilton Emerald Warriors modified football team will wear M-E jerseys for the home games.  They will wear the college jerseys for away games.  The district acknowledges that the jerseys say “Morrisville” and not “Morrisville-Eaton.”  While we cherish our heritage and community school, this decision allows the district to save money and use it for other student needs.

The rationale and need goes back to last year.  In the spring we were faced with significant cuts in state aid, needing to cut instructional programs, and having to make cuts or find savings in the extra-curricular program  Our agreement with Hamilton was to share the significant cost of the football program, which is the reason we felt it was appropriate to fully combine rather than deal with it as an “allow to play” share.  Hamilton has given us the use of all their football equipment, is providing a coach for the modified team and sharing the cost of a coach at the varsity level, and taking care of transportation to all away games at the varsity level and two of the modified games.  In anticipation of these savings we were able to avoid cutting two modified sports programs this year. 

The projected decline in state aid support is likely going to cause M-E to continue to have to make cuts in the future.  The more we can find districts willing to share the cost of the programs, the more programs we will be able to continue to provide for our students.

Why was our football team wearing green?

I would like to take a little time, in my first blog of the new school year to answer some questions which have been raised about how we are saving money and providing more opportunities for students by sharing costs with other districts.  In the past we have allowed athletes from other schools to participate on our teams at no cost to that district.  However, as we faced significant cuts in staff and programs last spring we decided to change that model to a shared cost model.  By sharing these costs we were able to continue to avoid making more cuts in our extra-curricular program.  This year our football program has officially combined with Hamilton Central.  As an equal partner they share the costs (uniforms, equipment, transportation, coaching, etc.)  Even the name – The Morrisville-Eaton-Hamilton Emerald Warriors – symbolizes the fact that our students are equal partners on the field of competition.  For away games the students will wear Hamilton uniforms, and home games they will be wearing Morrisville-Eaton uniforms.  Helmets have emblems from both schools.  Hamilton will pick up the cost of transporting students to away games, while we will host the home game and collect the gate receipts.  This has been a shock to some, and working toward a common goal rather than competing for the Jug has been disappointing to others.  However, in the end, this is about sharing costs in an effort to preserve opportunities for our children.

2011-2012 budget and merger study update

If you click the link below you will find the updated version of the community PowerPoint I am using to discuss the budget and possible merger study.  This new version reflects the tentative budget which was approved by the Board of Education last week.  We continue to wait to hear from New York State on whether or not we have been approved for the efficiency grant to conduct a merger study.  If that is approved we will likely set up an introductory meeting with the Hamilton Board of Education to discuss next steps.  As always, I will keep you posted on the process.

https://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dcv55kcq_28gn8gdjc4

Below in the “comments” you will see a letter written by Cadi New, one of our social studies teachers.  Cadi actually wrote this letter as a parent in another district but was willing to change it as a template for anyone who was interested in writing a similar letter to people at the state level who are making the cuts to school aid.

2011 – 2012 budget adopted

Last night the Board of Education adopted the 2011-2012 budget.  The proposed budget cuts almost $680,000 from the current budget, which is a decrease in spending of 4.75%.  The significant cut was made necessary because the district lost $977,744 in state aid through the “gap elimination adjustment.” 

The budget cut includes three teaching positions at each of the schools and one district-wide music position.   Additional stipends have been eliminated and many stipends are frozen. Mrs. Everson and I have again agreed to a wage concession this year.  There are reductions in the interscholastic athletic program by combining some modified teams and combining teams with neighboring districts.  We will not participate in the BOCES summer school program and have reduced the number of driver education slots from 36 to 24.  For the second time in three years we will reduce the number of late buses for after school activities.  On a positive note, the district continues to save over $300,000 a year thanks to a health benefit concession by administrators and all staff last year.  

Even with the decrease in expenditures, the cuts in state aid the proposed budget reflects an increase in the local tax levy of 3.85%.  While this is slightly higher than our most recent budgets, (’06 -’07 = 3.36%, ’07 – ’08 = 1.56%, ’08 – ’09 = 2.64%, ’10-’11 = 2.68%), the Board of Education believes it takes the difficult financial times all district residents are experiencing into account.

The annual budget brochure is being finalized and will be mailed out to all district residents in the near future.  This brochure will go into much more specific detail about our educational program and budget.  We will also have it posted on-line.

Budget update

At the end of this post, I am attaching an analysis of the aid “restoration” that was part of the New York State budget agreement.   The GEA (gap elimination adjustment) is the amount of money taken away from districts to meet Albany budget woes.  The “restoration” was a way to lessen the impact of that take away.  The chart shows that Morrisville-Eaton received less than 1% back.  An additional piece, not shown in this chart is that the final aid run takes an additional $17,000 away from other aids than were in the governor’s budget.  That is because they were able to use real numbers as opposed to the governor’s projections.  In the end, the difference is about $43,000.  At the last Board meeting the budget proposal was for a 5.01% increase in the local levy.  The Board of Education does not believe our community can support that large of an increase at this time, and is looking to reduce that to no more than 4%.  With the “restoration” we are very close to the target without going beyond the seven staffing cuts which are part of the current budget draft.  The revised budget also includes: a wage concession for myself,  and Mrs. Everson, a freeze in district wide stipends, the elimination of several extra-curricular and support stipends, and the reduction of one late run bus.    The Board of Education will meet this Wednesday night at 7:30 in the high school library to finalize the 2011-2012 school budget. 

 aid explanation