Announcement of budget forum on March 21, 2012

Final budget forum to feature nearly complete 2012-13 budget on Wednesday, March 21

BURNT HILLS: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district residents and staff are reminded to participate in the last of three community budget forums on Wednesday, March 21, in the O'Rourke Middle School cafetorium, 173 Lakehill Road at 7:30 PM.

Those who cannot attend in person are invited to participate online via a computer with high-speed internet access. (See details below.)

A special feature in this forum is that people in the cafetorium will be invited to speak to the assembled large group for up to two minutes each about the budget.

Superintendent Jim Schultz will describe how the district got to its current point in budget development, but the thrust of his presentation will be to describe the budget that he is now recommending to the Board of Education.

The superintendent's recommended budget for 2012-13 is $56,748,354. This represents a 3.6 percent budget-to-budget increase over the current year and would result in an estimated 2.35 percent tax levy increase. Board members intend to collect more input on this at the forum and over the next week. They are scheduled to vote on the budget at their first meeting in April, which is April 3.

Read all about Online access to the March 21 Forum

Important note: Online participants will be able to see and hear the forum and to type in their comments and opinions (which will be printed and shared with Board of Education members after the event).

However, the online access software does not provide a means for online viewers to speak out loud to the board and audience assembled in the cafetorium. People wishing to do that must attend the forum in person.

At their meeting last week on March 13, Board of Education members again discussed the impact of new state rules regarding the tax levy "cap." All seven board members indicated that they do not wish to exceed BH-BL's maximum allowable tax levy increase under these rules, which is 2.35 percent.

This number is different for each school district because it is based on a state-required, eight-step calculation that includes district-specific factors, such as growth in the tax base and capital payments that were already approved by district voters.

Districts can adopt budgets within their maximum allowable tax levy increase if they receive at least a 50 percent majority of votes at the polls on election day May 15, or can have a budget with a higher tax levy increase by earning at least a 60% super-majority at the polls.

The worksheet is prioritized into three tiers. On the March 21 version, tier 1 changes will represent the superintendent's recommended budget, while tiers 2 and 3 show additional staffing cuts that would be necessary if BH-BL had to go to a contingency budget.

"Based on the input I've received from residents, staff and board members, there are many changes in tier 1 items," says Schultz. "Many cuts that were on there earlier in the month have been deleted or pared down. I have reduced proposals to cut both elementary and secondary teachers. We've also significantly reduced the Response to Intervention staffing additions while keeping new state guidelines in mind."

Schultz is proposing that the district make a total of 5.8 FTE (full-time-equivalent) staffing cuts across all staff groups and add 1.2 teachers, for a net staffing reduction of 4.6 FTE positions.

"We've had to cut 50 FTE positions over the past three years of reduced income from the state, so I know any further cuts are painful," he says. "But the school board is also mindful that many of our residents are still struggling in this bad economy. The sacrifices we've made in recent years have put BH-BL in a more stable and secure position looking forward than many districts. We could not have found this balance without the input and participation of many people, for which I am thankful."

Board of Education members will be reviewing community input at their regular business meeting on Tuesday, March 27, at 7:30 pm in the high school library. They plan to adopt a 2012-13 budget one week later at their business meeting on April 3 in the middle school. The budget then goes before district voters on May 15.