The Sachem Central School District Board of Education will have a meeting on Wednesday, September 16 in the auditorium at Samoset Middle School. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Prior to the meeting, Bruce Singer, Sachem’s Associate Superintendent for Business, and Tony Falco, Sachem’s Board of Education President, have answered some questions for the community about the current fiscal situation the district is facing.
While these answer many questions, there are many facts and figures that will be shared during the Board of Education meeting as well. We encourage the community to come to the meeting and stay informed.
Bruce Singer, Associate Superintendent of Business for Sachem Central School District:
What has been the issue during the last couple of weeks that Sachem is facing financially?
“We have had several issues, which complicated our financial status. The mandate of special education courses increased after the budget was approved. We needed to dip into reserves because of special education costs going above what we anticipated so we wound up with a balance in June 2015 of approximately $16,000. About a week-and-a-half before school the special education department needed an additional $1.5 million for this school year in 2015-2016, which brings us to our current dilemma. We have made additional recommendations on other options for the board and there is a meeting Wednesday night so we’ll have a successful year and put us on a better footing.”
Why are these cuts being done now?
“The special education department budget last year was increased $3 million and they exceeded it this year by $3 million, so in the 2015-2016 school year we increased the special education budget by nearly $3 million thinking that was going to be sufficient. The Committee on Special Education meetings are ongoing and children moving into the district is an ongoing process. As the needs of the children unfold we have to respond to that. Without a sufficient fund balance we have to look to our operating budget to make adjustments. That’s really our dilemma right now, that we do not have sufficient reserves and we depleted them the last few years.
As each event occurs we are responding to it. This is normal operation for a school district. Budget transfers happen basically every day. What’s highlighted this year is the depletion of our reserves, so we are in a different financial situation and we have to find the solution within our operating budget. That is our challenge.”
How much money does the school district need to fund these additional fees?
“It is about $1.5 million that we will have to find throughout the 2015-2016 school year. That’s today. They can have an additional Committee on Special Education meeting beyond with more changes. For instance, last January there were 10 students who moved into Sachem and each student is a $100,000 expenditure. That was $1 million unbudgeted in the middle of the school year and we had to find the money. We don’t have the financial wherewithal to do that again, now we have to make other cuts in order to fund that.”
What is the plan to find that money?
“We will have to make reductions in other areas that we will discuss with the board Wednesday night. Right now there is an option to cut make a small reduction from every department, which is what we are presenting to the board of education.”
Why has this trend of depleted reserves continue to happen in Sachem?
“The imposition of a tax cap. Our auditor informed us two weeks ago that the tax cap for next year is going to be close to zero and have relatively no increases in state aid. We’re receiving this year about $119 million in state aid, which is about where we were six years ago. If the state undoes the gap elimination, that should increase our state aid by about $9 million. That would be up to the state legislature for the 2016-2017 school year. It was requested, but the state could not fund full restoration of the gap.”
Tony Falco, President of Sachem Central School District Board of Education:
“The initial idea for the board is to dispel some of the rumors that have been swirling through social media. Some of it is upsetting the community. We also have to establish the reduction in this present school year the cost to offset some of these extra expenditures that we did not budget for.”
Can you explain some of the thought behind possible reductions?
“We are not laying off hundreds of teachers. One of the goals from the district was if you have to make reductions, keep them out of the classroom. Keep the classroom the same as last year. Everything in the district some way, some how affects children.
And, no, we have had not had misappropriation of funds. We have auditors throughout the year going through our books, going back years making sure everything is correct and we found no problem.
As far as cuts go, we’re leading toward going after minimal areas of the budget such as supplies, among others. With extra curricular activities we’re looking at reducing clubs and sports. That does not mean that all clubs will disappear, it means that the principals and superintendent will decide which clubs are viable and have the most attendance and those are the ones that carry through. Some will have to be reduced or eliminated. We will be discussing this at the Board of Education meeting.
Our primary concern is the education in the classroom. We are reducing a number of things that are going to affect a lot of children, and parents and children will be upset. We do not want to make reductions in the classroom where it will affect children down the road further. The district is in a tough time. We’ve been there before and we’ve come out ahead and we hope we can do that again Wednesday night. I want to give the community assurance that we will do everything to keep the classroom and education at its best.”
To define some of the key terms discussed in these statements, Sachem’s administration has highlighted them here:
Special education mandates: The Committee on Special Education is a group made of educators, school psychologists and parents. Their role is to review students academic performance and emotional needs and based on that the committee will make a recommendation for placement. They will also recommend a level of academic support that a student will need. Some of those items include class size, speech services, occupational therapy services and/or counseling. The level of services a student receives are mandated both at the federal and state level.
Gap elimination: During the 2010-11 school year, under one of the most difficult times in America’s fiscal history, New York State had reduced state aid to all school districts. Sachem’s GAP reduction was $21 million. Over the last few years the state has paid approximately $12 Million back to Sachem. The state still owes $9 million for the 2015-2016 school year GAP Reduction.
Tax cap: New York State has imposed a tax cap on all municipalities. The tax cap limits a local school districts overall growth in the property tax levy to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Any municipality, which exceeds the state imposed cap of 2 percent in their proposed budget, needs a 60 percent super majority for an approved budget. New York State initiated a Tax Efficient Grant, which gave tax rebate checks for homeowners/taxpayers equal to the tax increase. Sachem Schools has offered the 2014-15 and 2015-16 to voters, which received approval. Therefore, all community residents will receive the rebate check from New York State.